What Sulu Sees
by IsmayDeVain
Summary: How Kirk Slowly Endears Himself to His Crew by Becoming a Human Punching Bag, Plunging off a 300 Foot Cliff, Getting Crushed by a Giant Ass Pipe, Nearly Getting Blown to Itty Bitty Bits, and Suffocating Because of His Own Medically Inept Body. (Although, not necessarily in that order.) Or five times Kirk puts his crew before himself and one time they return the favor.
1. Wherein Kirk is a Matchmaker for Ninjas

**A/N:** **How Kirk Slowly Endears Himself to His Crew by Becoming a Human Punching Bag, Plunging off a 300 Foot Cliff, Getting Crushed by a Giant Ass Pipe, Nearly Getting Blown to Itty Bitty Bits, and Suffocating Because of His Own Medically Inept Body. (Although, not necessarily in that order.)**

**Or…five times Kirk puts his crew before himself, and one time they return the favor.**

**I wrote this from Sulu's point of view because most of my stuff is going to be about Bones and Jim so I thought I'd switch it up. Also, Sulu is freaking adorable and awesome. Just a heads up, there is an OC in this story, but her appearance is minimal; this chapter is the probably the most you'll see of her.**

**Also, on a side note, there is medical jargon and squeamishness, and I apologize if it sounds boringly 21st century. I'm not that imaginative when it comes to 23rd century medical procedures. **

**Regular disclaimer applies!**

* * *

**What Sulu Sees**

In Sulu's book, loyalty is not something freely given but earned.

Being part of a military organization, there is a certain amount of loyalty that is automatic, if only through regulation. If the brass says he has to follow someone with three stripes on their arm, he's going to do it, whether he particularly likes that person or not. He'll follow orders, do his job, probably gripe about it under his breath, but he'll show loyalty to his superior officer.

But real loyalty is a different story. Real loyalty, the kind where he'll lay down his life without a second thought, the kind where he'll trust the order from his superior without blinking an eye, that comes from hard work and time. In Sulu's experience there is a moment, clear and crystal, that defines that loyalty. A moment that he can look back on and say _There, that's when I started following Jim Kirk, the crazy bastard._

Not that he'd ever call his captain anything so disrespectful…to his face.

Of course, like everything else, Jim Kirk has to go above and beyond and royally screw up a perfect system.

Because there wasn't just one moment when Sulu gave him his undying loyalty. There were two.

The first was on that damn drill. Because it was really hard not to loyally follow a man who would willingly fling himself off a drill three miles high in the sky on the off chance that he could save your life. It was kind of a given that Sulu was going to like the guy.

But that was a military action, a crazy one, but it was on duty just the same. So, yeah, he was going to follow the guy's orders no matter how _utterly insane_ they might be because he's seen his crazy genius at work and he can trust his captain to do what needs to be done. And he was loyal to the _Captain_.

The second moment, the one that would forever make Sulu loyal to _Jim Kirk_, defined his loyalty to the man behind the title.

* * *

They'd just gotten back from some dusty, rock planet that was hotter and dryer than Sulu cared to remember. They were covered in red dirt from head to toe and aching in places that Sulu didn't know existed. The planet had severe seismic activity that hadn't been detected until they'd been in the dust bowl for over an hour. Three of the eight member away team had been severely injured, so much so that Doctor McCoy had been beamed down to stabilize them before they could be transported on board. The more minor injuries, namely Sulu and Kirk, had been sent to sick bay ahead of them.

So there he sat on a bio bed, nursing a headache the size of Jupiter and a cut the entire length of his forearm. Kirk was on the bed beside him with an arm wrapped protectively over his ribs which he swore were only bruised and wiping blood from the small gash above his eyebrow as he animatedly told the nurses how Sulu saved his life.

"I don't know how, but he saw the rocks falling, and _bam!_ he was slamming me out of the way. Moved like a freaking ninja!"

Julia, the red headed nurse that Sulu may or may not have had a crush on, smiled at him, "Really, a ninja?"

Sulu ducked his head slightly and raised his arm, "Well, not a very good ninja. Still managed to get my arm caught."

"That's the best part!" Kirk exclaimed, grinning like a madman through the blood on his face, "He's lying there with his arm pinned under this giant boulder and he just looks at it and says 'Well that's inconvenient.' It was freaking awesome!"

Sulu looked at him with a silent expression of thanks. Kirk was telling the story accurately, but he was leaving out some rather important details. Like how after the reality of the situation hit, he'd puked his guts out because there was a very real possibility that he'd lose his arm. Or that it was Kirk that calmed him down and then single-handedly maneuvered the boulder off his arm even with his mild concussion and bruised-if-not-broken ribs.

But Kirk didn't mention any of that to Julia.

"Captain, as entertaining as this story is, I should really get to work on your ribs. Doctor McCoy will have my hide if you aren't patched up before he gets back," Julia said.

Kirk shook his head, "My ribs can wait. Sulu's bleeding."

Sulu wanted to protest that it wasn't that bad, but blood had already soaked the Captain's command tunic red. He'd protested when Kirk had wrapped it around the wound, but now he was grateful. There was no way he would have made it back to the ship if he'd let it bleed freely.

"Sir, Marcelle can handle Lieutenant Sulu's injury," Julia said, although she hesitated slightly as she looked at the petite nurse beside her.

Sulu cringed and instinctively pulled his injured arm closer to his chest. He didn't have anything against the pixie-like girl, but he'd heard stories. Like the one where Travers from Engineering came in with a small burn on his leg and nearly lost his hand. Or the one where there was an outbreak of Terran flu because Marcelle had dropped the vials containing samples in the middle of the corridor.

"If Marcelle can handle his arm then she can handle my ribs," Kirk said, "I'd rather have the more senior nurse working on the more serious injury, and I'm pretty sure Bones would, too."

"Yes, sir," Julia said with a smile that Sulu wished would last forever, "Marcelle, start with the dermal regenerator on the laceration on his temple. If I'm not done with Mr. Sulu by then, you can start on the osteo-regenerator for his ribs."

"Sure thing, Julia," Marcelle grinned and hurried to the cabinet behind her to grab the equipment.

As Julia grabbed her own supplies, Sulu looked at Kirk and mouthed _Thank you_. Kirk grinned and looked pointedly at Julia before waggling his eyebrows and mouthing back _You owe me._ Sulu agreed wholeheartedly.

"The laceration isn't too deep," Julia murmured as her fingers ghosted over his arm. Sulu gasped slightly, tensing, and Julia frowned, "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"No, I'm just…I'm ticklish."

She smirked, "I'll try to remember that."

Sulu watched her as she began wiping away the dried blood. She was a few inches shorter than him, but she carried herself as though she were ten feet tall. That was what attracted him to her to begin with; the confidence that she had to do her job, to be who she was, it was impressive. Of course, the heart-shaped face, large apples in her cheeks, and wide green eyes didn't hurt in the attraction department either. He'd pined after her for the last three months, since they'd started their mission, and as far as he knew she didn't have a boyfriend. He was trying to get up his courage to ask her out and knew he needed to act soon, or, as Kirk loved to remind him, he'd miss his chance.

"So did you really push the captain out of the way?" Julia asked, pulling him out of his reverie.

"He exaggerated a few parts," Sulu told her. _And left out a few others_, he added silently.

"When we got the call that three of you had been severely injured, Doctor McCoy bet that one of them was Kirk," she smirked as she started the dermal re-generator treatment, "I bet him an evening off shift that it wasn't. I guess I owe you for winning."

Sulu grinned, "Glad to help. To be honest, I wasn't really thinking when I did it."

"Do you always do that? Act without thinking?"

"No. I'm usually the opposite. It took me two years of careful option weighing before I decided to go into Starfleet. And it takes me at least twenty minutes to figure out what I'm going to replicate for dinner."

Julia laughed, "I never pegged you for such a careful man, Mister Sulu."

"I'm not always," he assured her and smiled, "You just haven't gotten to know me yet, Nurse Dawson."

Her smile turned fond, "Well, if you want my opinion, I think some of the best decisions are made on impulse. Too much over thinking can ruin an good thing."

As she moved the re-generator out of the way to check its progress, Sulu impulsively grabbed her hand in his to stop her. When she looked up at him, her light green eyes reflecting amusement and nervousness, he smiled wide.

"Julia, will you go out with me?"

An impossibly wide smile graced her lips, "I thought you'd never ask, Hikaru."

Sulu's grin matched hers watt for megawatt. He really owed Kirk for this one. Maybe a bottle of something expensive and alcoholic. Hell, he'd cover his next three Gamma shifts if the man wanted. It would be worth it just for this moment.

And then the moment ended abruptly with a loud clang and a strangled cough.

Julia spun away as Sulu jerked around to see what was happening. Across the room, the dermal re-generator Marcelle had been using was on the ground and Kirk was hunched over, one hand holding his ribs as he coughed and gagged, the other clutching the edge of the bio bed in a white-knuckled grip. Julia rushed over and Sulu, despite the dizziness of moving too fast, was right behind her.

"What's wrong?" Julia demanded.

"I don't know!" Marcelle blubbered, "I…I gave him a pain reliever and he was fine…an-and then he was saying it was hard to breathe. I didn't-"

Kirk grabbed onto Sulu's good arm like a life line. Sulu could feel the tremors running through his Captain in that tenuous grip and could see the fear reflected in his eyes as he looked up at Sulu, gasping for breath that wouldn't come.

"He can't breathe!" Sulu shouted.

Julia scooped up the hypo lying next to the re-generator and scanned the screen. Her eyes widened with anger.

"You stupid-" She shoved Marcelle out of the way and ran for the cabinet, shouting, "Nancy! I need you in here now!"

Nancy appeared in the door way, a hypo in her hand, "Julia, what's-"

"Get M'Benga out here. The captain is going into anaphylactic shock."

Nancy spared a worried glance at Kirk and then hurried forward, "M'Benga and Chapel are working on Xave. Xhe came back with internal injuries and they're the only ones capable of helping xer aside from McCoy. What do you need?"

"Shit!" Julia cursed as she turned away from the cabinet and rushed back to Kirk. She pressed a hypo to his arm and readied another one, "Get a comm. link down to McCoy. Tell him that it's the Captain, code red. And then get me another set of hands in here."

Nancy looked at Marcelle, "What about-"

"Not her! Get her out of here!"

Nancy did as she was told, grabbing a crying Marcelle by the arm and dragging her deeper into medical. Julia depressed the second hypo into the captain's arm and then moved to grab an oxygen mask.

"Julia, what's happening?" Sulu demanded as she eased Kirk back on the bed. The other man's lips were slowly turning blue and his chest hitched and heaved as he fought to breathe.

"She overdosed him with a med he's allergic to," Julia bit out. She attached the line to the mask and readied it, but paused to address Kirk first, "Captain, I need you to listen to me. Your airway is trying to swell shut, but I've given you a drug to counteract it. It's going to take a minute to work. I know it feels like you can't breathe, but you can. Do you understand me?"

Kirk nodded once and coughed, harsh and loud, gasping on the tiny amount of air that got through.

"I'm going to put this mask on. It will help you breathe easier while the drug works," she placed the mask over his face and cranked up the oxygen, "You've got a hold of Sulu's arm. Do you feel him? I want you to keep holding on to him, okay? Squeeze his hand every time you get a breath in, so I know you're breathing."

Sulu adjusted his grip on Kirk's arm so that instead of clasping his wrist, he had his thumb locked around his and his fingers pressed into the back of his hand. Kirk squeezed, hard. Sulu knew that holding Kirk's hand wasn't medically necessary; the monitors was reading out his oxygen levels with bright numbers that meant nothing to him, but Kirk needed the distraction, and Sulu was only happy to oblige. He'd be scared out of his mind too if he was slowly suffocating.

Jacobi, one of the few male nurses on board, appeared beside Julia, "What do you need, Dawson?"

Julia turned to him and said in a hushed whisper, "Get the defibrillator and a intubation pack."

Jacobi's eyes widened slightly, but he nodded tersely, turned on his heel, and obeyed.

"Defibrillator?" Sulu asked, wincing as Kirk's grip nearly broke his hand.

Julia shook her head and bent down to Kirk, "Captain, listen to me carefully. The drug you were given is going to have side effects. In about a minute you're going to have a seizure-"

"Shit." Sulu gripped Kirk's hand with both of his, as if he could will the tremors rippling through him away.

"-and the counter drug may not have worked through you by then," Julia continued. She gently picked up Kirk's other hand and continued softly, "Your airway may close completely. If that happens, I'll have to intubate and connect you to the ventilator, but I'll only do it as a last resort. Do you understand what I'm telling you, Captain?"

Weakly, Kirk squeezed her fingers. He choked under the mask and gagged, his back arching slightly off the bio bed and slamming down again. The hand Sulu held tightened and relaxed in a vice like grip. The monitors attached to him began to wail and screech in warning. And then Kirk's entire body was convulsing.

"Get back!" Julia yelled, "Jacobi, the force field!"

Sulu reluctantly let go of Kirk's hand and stepped backward until his legs hit an empty bed. Jacobi hit a button on the bed and a shimmering field engulfed the Captain's quaking body, holding it down as the seizure ripped through him with the same ferocity as the earthquake on the planet below them.

Julia scrambled for the clear packet Jacobi handed her and tore it open. Behind her, the med bay doors opened and Nancy came running into the room, her usually immaculate blonde bun disheveled.

"The comm's been sent," she gasped, "but Mr. Scott doesn't think it will get through. There's interference-"

"Get the ventilator," Julia ordered.

Nancy's eyes widened, "You're going to-"

"Only if I have to," Julia replied, "With any luck, he'll-"

"It's done!" Jacobi shouted and released the force field.

"Time?" Julia demanded as she tore the oxygen mask from Kirk's face.

"97. 2 seconds," Jacobi answered.

"Shit, cut the alarms," Julia ordered. She tilted Kirk's head back, pried open his mouth, and aimed a pen light down his throat, "His airway is clear."

Nancy sighed in relief as she wheeled the ventilator into the room, "Thank God."

"V-fib," Jacobi yelled, "He's flatlining, Dawson!"

Julia cussed again as a new alarm went off. On the bed, Kirk's body was completely still, limp and lifeless, and Sulu thought he'd never seen something so wrong. Only moments earlier, he'd been waving his arm around as he described Sulu's extravagant rescue, his leg bouncing as he was forced to sit still on the bed. It was wrong that he was so still now; it was down right heartbreaking.

"Clear!" Julia shouted.

Sulu watched in morbid fascination as Kirk's body jumped up as the electrical current ran through it. The monitor beeped for a moment and then wailed again as a straight line scrawled across the screen.

"Again!" Julia yelled, "Clear!"

The second jolt left Kirk's head lolling across the bed, tilting his face away from Sulu. He fought the urge to gag.

"I've got a rhythm," Nancy announced, "It's evening out. There, we've got him."

"He's still not breathing," Jacobi announced, checking a read out from a PADD.

Julia positioned her hands over Kirk's chest, "Nancy, bag him."

He watched her do the compressions, listened as she counted them out and ordered Nancy to administer the breaths through the device she'd placed on Kirk's mouth. They did the cycle twice before Kirk was breathing on his own.

"It's shallow," Jacobi told them, "O2 levels are low. Do you want to intubate him?"

Julia shook her head, wisps of red hair clinging to her forehead, "His body's had enough trauma. If we intubate, he'll have to be sedated for at least a day to give it time to heal. He's breathing on his own. Attach the mask and raise the oxygen. We'll monitor him carefully. Get me a tricorder, will you, Nancy?"

The blonde nodded and stepped away, leaving Sulu's earlier spot vacant. Almost unconsciously, he stepped forward and grabbed Kirk's hand in his. He tried not to crumble when Kirk didn't grip his fingers back.

Julia looked at him across Kirk's prone body, "Shit."

Sulu could only nod in agreement.

When Nancy handed her the tricorder, Julia ran it over Kirk's chest, sighing in relief when she got the readings.

"One cracked rib, three bruised, and the drug is fading," she announced, her voice weary, "Jacobi, I want you to monitor him for the next hour. As soon as he's clear of the drug and a relapse, start the osteo-regenerator."

Jacobi nodded, but looked completely bewildered, "What the hell happened, Julia? I thought he came in with minor injuries."

"He did," Julia gritted out.

"Then how the hell did he go into cardiac arrest?"

Julia hooked a thumb over her shoulder, "Why don't you ask Marcelle?"

"Oh," Jacobi swallowed hard, "McCoy's going to kill her."

"Not if I kill her first," Julia muttered, "Nancy, get her to her quarters. She can wait for McCoy to ream her out there."

Nancy gripped Julia by the shoulders, "You did good, Julia."

Julia only nodded, glancing at Kirk's sleeping form with a look of relief and guilt. Sulu gripped Kirk's limp hand in his and wished he could start this day over again.

"He's okay," Julia said softly, "He's going to be okay."

Numbly, Sulu nodded.

"Come on. We should finish your arm. You're bleeding again."

He hadn't noticed, but now that she'd pointed it out, he could feel the pain of the wound throb in time with his pulse. Blood, wet and slick, dribbled out of the barely healed cut. With great reluctance, he let go of Kirk's hand and let Julia lead him back to the bed. As she started the treatment for a second time, Sulu said the only thing he could think of.

"This doesn't count as our first date."

* * *

It was a half hour later before McCoy was able to get up to the ship, and by the time he got to sick bay, he was livid. Sulu was still there, his arm already healed and bandaged, but he refused to leave before he had word about the Captain. He witnessed the spectacle of McCoy storming into sick bay and going completely white when he saw Kirk lying on the bio bed. It took twenty minutes to explain what happened simply because McCoy couldn't calm down enough to hear what they were saying and they ended up repeating themselves at least three times. When it became clear who was to blame, McCoy stormed back out of sick bay and didn't come back for nearly twenty minutes. Sulu tried to feel some sympathy for Marcelle, but couldn't find it in him.

Two hours after his seizure, Kirk woke up.

Sulu had been resting in his quarters and was commed by McCoy to 'get his ass down here right damn now because the infant wants to see you'. He wasn't sure if he should be amused by McCoy or downright terrified.

He met Julia outside the doors of sickbay.

"Hey," he said quietly.

She smiled, but it was tentative, "I'm about to get reamed out."

Sulu's eyes widened, "What? Why?"

She just shook her head, "McCoy's on a war path. I'm next."

She entered sickbay and Sulu followed. It'd quieted down since the earthquake and the fiasco after. The three injured team members were resting quietly at the back while Kirk was sitting up on the bio bed near the door. He looked a hundred times better than he had when Sulu had left him an hour earlier. Color had returned to his face and although he looked tired, he was smiling widely as Sulu and Julia entered. He was even kicking his feet against the bottom of the bed. Infant, indeed.

"Jules! Sulu! My two favorite people. You're just in time."

"Captain," Sulu said, "no disrespect meant, sir, but are you drugged?"

Kirk grinned even wider, "Bones has got me on some good stuff, but I'm not high if that's what you're wondering."

McCoy snorted from his place beside the bed, "No, this is just how you normally act. Childish."

Kirk scowled at him, but positively beamed at Julia, "Jules, have I ever told you that you're my absolute favorite nurse of all time?"

Julia's cheeks burned nearly as read as her hair, "Um, thank you, sir?"

"You were awesome," Kirk said, "I mean, freaking awesome. You're going to have your own Med bay some day."

She glanced at McCoy, uncertain, "Um, sir. You were unconscious. I don't think you know what really happened."

"Sure I do. I watched the security feeds."

Sulu thought his stomach plummeted and hit somewhere around his shoes. _Shit_. If Kirk had watched the feeds, that meant he knew-

"And, yes, Hikaru. I know you were holding my hand."

-That. _Shit_.

Kirk laughed, "Don't look so terrified, Sulu. What happens in sickbay, stays in sickbay."

"What he means," McCoy said, "is that he's grateful you were there, and he's sorry for nearly fracturing your hand."

Sulu flexed his hand, "Any time, sir."

Kirk grinned and turned back to Julia, "You, Jules, are like a nurse ninja. Did you know that? You reminded me of a smaller, prettier Bones, shouting orders, cussing up a storm. It was awesome."

Julia ducked her head, her ears now burning as brilliantly as her cheeks, "Sir, I don't think your gratitude is warranted. If anything, I should be reprimanded."

Kirk looked at her like she'd grown a second head, "Say what now?"

McCoy shared his confusion, "Why the hell would you be reprimanded, Dawson? You saved the Captain's life, for Christ sake."

"Because it shouldn't have happened. I should have been assigned to Captain Kirk since I was the most senior nurse available and he has the most medical disadvantages. If I had been, Marcelle-"

"You were ordered to attend to Sulu," McCoy reminded her as he hooked a thumb toward Kirk, "by Captain Dumbass here."

"Hey!"

"And Marcelle should have been capable of doing her job without being hovered over. It isn't a mistake to trust your colleagues to do what they're damn well supposed to."

"Yes, sir," Julia said, "but I was distracted." She flicked her eyes to Sulu.

"Well," Kirk drawled, kicking his feet against the bed, "Hikaru can be _very_ distracting."

Julia couldn't turn any more red if she wanted to, but Sulu certainly could. He stood stifly, trying desperately not to look at Julia or strangle his Captain on the bio bed. McCoy smacked the back of Kirk's head.

"You're incorrigible, kid."

Kirk chuckled, "Possibly, but it's one of my finer qualities." Before McCoy could protest and list some of Kirk's less finer qualities, the Captain turned back to Julia, "Jules, you are most definitely not getting reprimanded. Bones has already put a commendation in your file and once those things are in, they can't be taken out."

Julia looked at McCoy with wide, disbelieving eyes, "Really, sir? You don't give commendations. Ever."

McCoy cleared his throat, "I don't usually because I shouldn't have to reward people for doing their damn jobs, but I do it on occasion when people go above and beyond. You were understaffed, unqualified and faced with situation that even a CMO would struggle to handle, and you still managed to save the infant's life."

"Hey!"

Julia shook her head, "Sir, I-"

"You had a five minute window, Dawson. Five minutes. Not only was Jim highly allergic to that med, but Marcelle overdosed him on it. If you hadn't acted so quickly and decisively, he'd be dead. He _should_ be dead."

Kirk crossed his arms, "Sorry to disappoint you, Bones."

McCoy ignored him, "That's why you got the commendation, Dawson. Because you damned well earned it."

Julia ducked her head humbly, "Yes, sir. Thank you."

"You know what else you earned?" Kirk asked, grinning wide, "A night off, as per the bet your CMO made." He picked up the PADD lying beside him and said, "I think the shift you were supposed to cover two days from now would be a good choice."

"Two nights?" Julia asked, "Sir, I work tonight. Couldn't I-"

"You could," Kirk smirked, "but I know a certain pilot who has that shift off, too, and I know I was busy trying not to asphyxiate, but I distinctly remember hearing Sulu ask you out."

Sulu couldn't stay quiet any longer, "Sir, given that our flirting was a distraction that nearly caused your death, I don't know if it would be appropriate to-"

Kirk surprised them all by grabbing the pillow off his bed and hurtling it at Sulu's face.

"Don't be an idiot," Kirk told him, "I don't have idiots on the bridge."

Sulu swallowed a smile, "Yes, sir."

McCoy sighed, "You ever going to learn to stay out of other people's business, kid?"

"Probably not, but I will tell you what I have learned. I have learned that even in a stressful situation with my life at stake that she," he pointed at Julia, "gives hypos like a freaking butterfly kiss while you jab them in my neck like a freaking dagger. What's up with that?"

McCoy smirked, "Maybe she likes you better."

"Maybe you need to work on your bedside manner."

"What bedside manner?"

"Exactly!"

"Well, maybe you need to go to sleep." With speed that only came with practice, McCoy pressed a hypo to Kirk's neck before he could even flinch.

"Damn it!" Kirk hissed and glared at his friend, "Sadist."

"Infant."

"You're too damn fast with those things, Bones," Kirk said, "Like a freaking ninja."

McCoy rolled his eyes, "What is it with you and ninjas, kid?"

"I'm surrounded by them," Kirk gestured to Sulu and Julia, "He's a sword ninja and she's a nurse ninja and you're a hypo ninja. And it's awesome to watch, less awesome when you're using your ninja skills against me."

With a long suffering sigh, McCoy grabbed the pillow from Sulu's hands, "He's going to pass out in a minute-"

"I'm not tired!"

"-so you can both go. He'll be back on the bridge by Beta shift."

As Sulu and Julia turned to leave, Kirk propped himself up on his elbow, "Hey, Sulu. You still owe me." As Sulu turned, Kirk grinned wickedly, "So when you start having ninja babies, you better name one after me."

McCoy hit him with another hypo, "Go to sleep already, you idiot."

In the hall, Julia was still burning red on her cheeks and ears, but she smiled at him, "So, still up for that first date, sword ninja?"

Sulu grinned, "You know it, nurse ninja."

* * *

And that was how Kirk earned Sulu's loyalty. By being a batshit crazy Captain, and an accident prone, but excellent wingman who nearly died so Sulu could land a date.

All in all, Sulu supposed there were worse people to pledge your loyalty to.

* * *

**A/N: Any and all reviews are very much appreciated. Seriously, I check daily and then send out good thoughts and happy vibes to any one who leaves even a single word. The more I get, the faster I'll update! :)**


	2. In Which Kirk Plays Guardian Angel

**A/N: You guys rock! Thank you all for your positive reviews!**

**So...on to the second chapter, yes?**

* * *

There was never any question about where McCoy's loyalty lay. Every member of the Enterprise crew had either witnessed firsthand the doctor's wrath when Kirk was injured or threatened, or watched the numerous holovids of such moments. There was a particularly entertaining one featuring McCoy's tongue lashing of former Nurse Marcelle DuBois. It lasted for twenty minutes and left the poor girl whimpering like a beaten dog.

Sulu, for one, had never questioned if McCoy was loyal to Kirk, but he had questioned _why_. He got his answer on an annoyingly cold night during shore leave four months into their mission.

"What do you mean why?" McCoy asked as he sipped from his glass of Bourbon. The good doctor was nothing if not predictable.

Sulu shrugged, "I'm just curious."

McCoy eyed him warily, but Sulu held his gaze. He wasn't trying to be irritating or learn some deep, dark secret. He just wanted to know why McCoy, who found space deplorable and still hated flying with every fiber of his being, was locked in as CMO of a Starfleet flagship. The answer, Sulu knew, revolved around Kirk, and he was curious.

"We met on the shuttle to the academy," McCoy told him, "I nearly threw up on him; he drank my bourbon. The end."

"See, I don't believe that. There had to be something else, something bigger."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you don't follow a man into space just because he stole your flask."

McCoy grunted and downed a bigger gulp of his drink. Around them, the bar hummed and writhed with customers, most of them members of their crew. The Captain was sitting at the bar with Chekov and Scotty, encouraging the younger man to try a shot. On Earth, he wasn't old enough to drink, but on Denvee Delta, he was actually three years past the milestone year. Sulu was impressed; the kid could actually hold his own, though he suspected Chekov had actually been drinking Vodka since he hit puberty.

At the corner table across from Sulu and McCoy, Spock and Uhura sat next to each other, sipping drinks and practicing raising their eyebrows in a synchronized fashion. He had to admit, they did look good together. Watching them together sent a sudden ache in his chest for Julia. He'd hoped to spend his leave with her, but she'd left to visit her brother and sister-in-law and the baby niece she hadn't met yet. They'd only been dating a month, but Sulu could already tell he was in deep.

"I have a daughter."

Sulu snapped his head around so fast he almost fell out of his chair, "What?"

McCoy studied the melting ice in the bottom of his glass, "Joanna. She's nine. She lives with her mother and stepfather on Earth."

"O-kay," Sulu said slowly, wondering why McCoy had changed the subject. Was his reason for being loyal to Kirk really that bad?

"Jim and I had only been friends for a few months, and I was going back to Georgia to visit my mother and Joanna over break. Jim tagged along because he didn't have anywhere else to go, and it was the first time I was going to face my ex after the divorce. I needed the support. Jim wasn't the best choice, but he was all I had. So he came down with me."

Sulu reached for the bottle of Bourbon and topped off McCoy's glass, waiting impatiently as the doctor took a long drink before continuing.

"We'd been there for a few days. Jim and Joanna hit it off. Swear, it was like having two six year olds instead of one."

Sulu snorted, "Well, there is a reason you call him _infant_."

McCoy nodded, "Yeah, so anyway, Jim took Joanna to the park one morning cause they were both up at the crack of dawn and I was still sleeping."

"Like a normal person."

"They were coming back when I came out on the porch. Joanna had a big bouquet of wildflowers she'd picked and Jim was carrying a bunch of stones and twigs in his shirt that she'd collected. She saw me and started running, talking a mile a minute about everything they'd done. She ran right across the street."

Sulu felt his stomach tighten and twist. He didn't have an overly active imagination, but it didn't take a genius to figure out where McCoy was going with his story.

"I was too far away," McCoy said, tightening his fingers around the glass till the tips were bloodless and white, "I ran, but I could see the car coming and Joanna dropped her flowers right there in the middle of the street, completely oblivious. Thought for sure I was about to watch her die, and then Jim comes out of nowhere, scoops her up, and throws her like a football right at me. I went down with her in my arms. She was screaming and crying right in my ear, but I still heard when that car slammed into his body."

"Jesus," Sulu breathed.

"It was bad. Damn near killed him."

Unable to help himself, Sulu glanced at his Captain and some of the tension eased out of his limbs. It was ridiculous to be worried since the incident had happened years before he knew either man, but that didn't stop Sulu from raking his eyes up and down Kirk's frame just to be sure as the other man laughed and tipped back a shot with Scotty.

"I guess that answers my question."

McCoy scoffed into his drink and shook his head, "That ain't the reason, Sulu."

"It's not?"

"Don't get me wrong, it's a big part of the reason. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't. Kind of hard to hate a man that saves your kid from getting killed."

"So what's the other part?"

McCoy plunked his glass down hard on the table top, "Because of some really stupid misunderstandings, the idiot thought I was pissed at him for Joanna nearly getting hurt. He checked himself out of the hospital when I wasn't there and went by my mother's house to get his stuff. Fool was going to run back to San Francisco cause he was convinced I was going to kill him."

Sulu gaped at him, "How did that-"

McCoy waved the half-uttered question away, "Doesn't matter. What matters is that by the time I got back to the house, I really was ready to kill him for worrying me so much. But when I got there, the idiot was punching the daylights out of my ex's boyfriend. With a _fucking_ broken hand."

Sulu choked on a laugh and coughed harshly when his drink went down the wrong way. The image was all too easy to conjure, mainly because he had so much material to work with.

"Apparently, he and Joss had come over to get Joanna. Joss was pissed, not that I really blame her since she was just worried about Jo, but her boyfriend said something about me that Jim didn't agree with. So he laid him out even though he'd just been through surgery and thought I hated him," McCoy glanced at Kirk, affection soft and clear in his eyes, "Damn idiot thought I was going to put him back in the hospital and there he was defending me when he damn well didn't have to."

Sulu laughed softly, cradling his glass in both hands, "Yeah, that sounds like him."

McCoy nodded, "It's easy to follow a man when he's standing beside you and acting like your friend. It's a lot harder when you're at odds and he still does everything he can to protect you, whether you need it or not, whether you _deserve _it or not. Jim may not be a saint, but he's as loyal as a damn Saint Bernard. Turnabout is only fair."

"You got that right," Sulu said and raised his glass, "To turnabout."

McCoy smirked and clinked the edge of his glass against Sulu's, downing the rest of the Bourbon in one gulp. Then he asked Sulu why he followed Kirk and they spent the next thirty minutes laughing over the stupid shit Kirk had gotten into in the last four months.

He didn't realize how late it had gotten until he went up to the bar to get another drink. Scotty had moved off to talk up a girl at the end of the bar, and Kirk had moved to harass Spock and Uhura. Chekov, who wasn't nearly as tipsy as he should have been since it was his first (yeah, right) night drinking, had gone to mingle with a group of ensigns that were flirting with the locals.

As he plopped back into his chair and filled McCoy's glass for the fourth time (and dear God, that man could hold his liquor), Kirk appeared and draped his arm around McCoy's shoulders like a wet towel.

"Bones, what're you doing over here?" Kirk asked, sliding into his chair, "You should mingle!"

McCoy glared at Kirk over the edge of his glass, "Kid, I think you _mingle_ enough for the both of us. What happened? Did Spock threaten to nerve pinch you if you didn't stop irritating them to death?"

Kirk arched an eyebrow and dropped his voice to a low monotone, "That is highly illogical, Doctor, as it is impossible for a life form to die from irritation."

Sulu hacked out a painful cough and sputtered perfectly good alcohol all over the table. McCoy winced in sympathy and smacked his back; although Sulu was fairly certain it had more to do with hiding the smile that threatened to show than actually helping him.

"Seriously, Bones, there's like a dozen different ladies here that would be all over you if you gave them a chance," Kirk said, "But you won't have a chance with any of them if you're holed up over here with Sulu all night."

"And what's wrong with Mr. Sulu's company?" McCoy asked.

"Nothing, except he's already taken. He can't mingle. You, Bones, can."

McCoy grunted, "Not happening, kid."

Kirk scowled, though there was no heat behind it, and turned to scan the crowd. No doubt looking for someone for the good doctor to _mingle_ with. Sulu smirked.

"He's like a dog with a bone," Sulu smirked, "Or Bones, I should say."

McCoy rolled his eyes, "Oh, ha ha, Lieutenant. I would've thought you were above those kind of idiot jokes."

Sulu shrugged, "Humor's not really my thing. I have to give what I can."

"You should give less," McCoy stood, "I'm hitting the head. Hopefully by the time I get back, the infant's attention span will have moved on."

Sulu chuckled as Kirk flipped his friend off without even turning around.

"You heard from Jules, Sulu?" Kirk asked after a moment.

"She made it to the colony. Sent me a picture of her and her niece."

Kirk grinned, "Giving you ideas?"

Sulu blanched, "Sir, we've only been dating for a month."

"First of all, it's Jim. We are not on duty, and we're in a bar for Christ sakes. Second, I'll have you know I've known several couples who've dated for less than three months and been happily married."

"Really?" Sulu asked, doubt practically dripping off his words, "Are they still married?"

"Most of them are," Kirk tilted back the rest of his drink and scanned the crowd again, "Thing is most people put too many rules on dating and marriage. You have to date for such and such a time because otherwise it isn't real, but the longer you stretch it out, the more doubts you get, and you're practically looking for reasons why the relationship should fail."

Sulu smirked, marveling that he was getting this kind of advice from a man who had the worst bed-hopping reputation in the Academy. But Kirk's words made a bit of sense, and he seemed to genuinely mean them.

"My point is, Sulu," Kirk said turning back to him, "Most people know in a short period of time if they want to be with a person or not. And there's no shame in admitting that sooner rather than later."

"If you say so, sir. Jim."

"I do say so, and I'm the Captain, so it's law."

Sulu was about to point out that not a minute earlier he'd told him they weren't on duty, so Captain's law didn't count, when Kirk suddenly tensed and muttered a heated _Shit_ under his breath.

"Sir?"

"Damn it," Kirk muttered as he stood, "Sulu, if I'm not back in five minutes I want you to get Bones and Spock and follow me."

Sulu was on his feet now, "Where, sir?"

Kirk pointed toward the door to the alley he was heading for, "And tell Bones to bring that tricorder he thinks I don't know about."

He was darting through the crowd before Sulu could find out what the hell was happening. Muttering curses in Standard and Japanese under his breath, he stepped away from the table only to collide into McCoy.

"What the hell, Sulu?" McCoy demanded as he plucked his now soaking shirt from his stomach and placed the empty glass on the table.

Sulu grabbed him by the elbow, "We've got a problem."

McCoy tensed, "What did Jim do now?"

It shouldn't have surprised him that McCoy instantly blamed the captain, but Sulu didn't have time to consider the implications. He tugged the older man across the floor to Spock and Uhura's table.

Uhura looked slightly bemused as they stumbled toward them, "Did you have a little too much to drink, gentlemen?"

Sulu ignored her and turned to Spock, "Commander, the Captain just went into the alley and told me to bring you, the doctor, and a tricorder after him."

And just like that, the easy, fun-having atmosphere shifted. Spock was on his feet and heading to the door without a word, McCoy right on his heels with a scowl firmly in place and a string of colorful curses flowing from his mouth. Sulu moved to follow them only to find Uhura matching his strides, a look of determination on her face masking only the slightest hints of concern.

They emerged from the bar into a dank alley filled with dumpsters and over turned trash cans. The night was bitterly cold and Sulu's breath came out in fat, white puffs in the dim glow of the flood lights. He looked right, but Spock moved left and Sulu instinctively followed only to find a sight he never would have imagined.

A familiar body lay propped up against the brick wall beside a pile of garbage bags. Several feet away a man he didn't recognize was on the ground, flailing his arms as he fought to stay conscious. Another man had Kirk's arms pinned behind his back as a third man drove his fist into his stomach and then his face. Kirk heaved back, his weight sending the man holding him into the wall, and struck out with his legs, catching the third man in the chest and sending them all tumbling to the ground.

"Chekov!" Uhura gasped in horror as the four of them surged forward.

She and McCoy dropped to their knees beside the prone ensign as Sulu and Spock rushed passed them. Kirk was on his hands and knees, attempting to rise, but the second man had already regained his footing and delivered a vicious kick to the Captain's ribs. Kirk cried out and flipped onto his back, curling around his middle. Spock stepped over him, grabbed the man by the arm, flipped him around, and slammed him face first into the bricks with enough strength to jar Sulu's teeth. The man screamed as his arm was wrenched roughly and pulled high on his back. He was smart enough not to attempt to attack Spock at least.

The third man stumbled to his feet and charged Sulu like a bull, head bent down, shoulders hunched, nostrils flaring. Sulu pivoted on his heel and simultaneously chopped his hand against his opponent's neck, catching his foot against the man's ankle and swiping his leg right out from under him. He tumbled head over heels, slamming awkwardly into the ground with his neck bent so far down his massive chin touched the middle of his chest. He groaned, but stayed on the ground as Sulu placed his foot between his shoulder blades.

"Nice moves, ninja," Kirk gasped as he attempted to stand for a second time.

"Captain, are you alright?" Spock asked. Sulu envied the way he held the man against the wall one-handed with such cool ease, clasping his other arm behind his back like he was giving a lecture.

"Yeah," Kirk groaned, leaning against the wall and holding his ribs. At least he was upright.

"May I inquire as to what happened?"

Sulu rolled his eyes. Even holding a man's arm one twist away from breaking it, the Vulcan still talked with abject politeness.

"These idiots drugged Chekov," Kirk turned to the ensign in question, "Is he okay, Bones?"

McCoy looked up from the tricorder he'd just run over Chekov, "He's fine. The drug in his system isn't dangerous. It just makes him loopy and...well, listen for yourselves."

In the silence that followed, Sulu picked up the soft notes of a melody. Chekov was sitting up, resting against Uhura's shoulder, mumbling the lyrics to a song Sulu couldn't recognize. And then, suddenly, Kirk burst out laughing.

"What's he singing?" Sulu asked.

"Somewhere over the Rainbow," Kirk laughed hoarsely, wincing as he grasped his side, "in Russian."

Sulu shook his head fondly, glancing at the kid, suddenly very relieved that he was alright. He didn't want to think about what would have happened if Kirk hadn't followed him.

"Captain, I shall alert the proper authorities," Spock said, "Shall I call for emergency medical services as well?"

"No, Spock, I don't think that will be necessary. Bones can patch us up on the ship."

McCoy snorted, "Sure, why not? It's not like this is supposed to be my _shore leave_ or anything."

Spock inclined his head and with lightning speed, flipped the man he was holding around and slammed him back into the wall. His grip on the man's arm never faltered, and he was now holding him by the wrist, bending it painfully backwards.

"You will sit on the ground," he said with deadly calm, "and you will not move."

The man whimpered and slowly slumped to the ground. When he was certain the man would follow his orders, Spock looked at Sulu and then pointedly down at the man he was standing on. Sulu stepped off his back, grabbed him by the scruff of his collar, and slammed him down next to his friend. The man choked back a cry of pain, but neither of them moved.

Kirk laughed weakly, "Remind me never to piss you two off."

Spock only arched an eyebrow and pulled out his comm as he went to check on the third assailant.

"Sir, how did you know Chekov was in trouble?" Uhura asked as she adjusted Chekov against her shoulder so that he wasn't drooling on her shirt.

Kirk waved his hand absently, "I thought I saw Tweedle Drunk over there slip something in his drink, but I wasn't sure. And then I saw the kid stumble out the door with these three right behind him. Two plus two did not end in a good scenario."

"Why the hell were you watching him in the first place?" McCoy grumbled.

"He's seventeen in an overly crowded bar on a foreign planet, Bones. It's like painting a neon target on a bunny's back and dropping it in an empty field the first day of open season. Of course, I'm going to watch him."

Sulu blinked as the Captain's words settled over him and registered in his brain. He wondered if it were possible to respect a man _too_ much.

McCoy scoffed, but it held a gentle affection Sulu was getting used to seeing, "Whatever, kid. Now get over here so I can run this over you and find out just how badly you screwed yourself up this time."

"I didn't screw myself up. I had help," Kirk muttered as he pushed off the wall. He took one step and winced in pain, clutching tighter to his left side.

Sulu resisted the urge to step forward and help him, "Sir, are you alright?"

"Um..."

"Doctor," Spock said as he stood over the third man, "are you certain that Ensign Chekov does not have any injuries?"

"I told you, you damn hobgoblin. He's fine other than the drug making him sing show tunes," McCoy's eyes narrowed, "Why?"

Spock turned, holding something in his hand, "Because I have just discovered this knife next to the third assailant. It appears to be covered in human blood, and it is quite fresh."

A heavy beat of silence rained over the alley, and then as if they'd been programmed to act in unison, four faces turned to look at Kirk with mixed expressions of worry, anger, and confusion. Kirk, for his part, had fallen back against the wall and started to slide down it, his hand still pressed firmly into his side.

"Yeah, that...that might be mine," he muttered as his ass hit the ground.

"Shit, Jim!" McCoy yelled, abandoning Chekov to Uhura as the captain began listing dangerously to the side.

Sulu was faster. He grabbed Kirk by the shoulders carefully laying him down while still keeping one eye on his prisoners. As McCoy ran the tricorder over the fallen man, Kirk blinked lazily at the sky before his eyes settled on Sulu.

And then he smiled.

"I think I need more sparring practice," he mumbled.

Sulu squeezed his shoulder, "Any time. Just name it, sir."

"Won't be for a long while," McCoy growled, "Jesus, Jim. You don't do things by halves, do you?"

"Gotta..." Kirk blinked heavily, hissing in pain, "Gotta keep you on your toes."

"Not on shore leave, you don't! Damn it, Jim. This is the one time you're _not_ supposed to get hurt."

Kirk raised a shaking hand and poked the tricorder that was nearly breaking in McCoy's death grip, "If you really believed that, you wouldn't have snuck this down here."

McCoy growled, actually _growled_, deep in his throat, and Sulu had to wonder at the way it sounded positively irate and yet completely loving at the same time.

"Doctor, the authorities are on the way. I have contacted the ship and they will beam us up momentarily," Spock said from over McCoy's shoulder, where he was distinctly not hovering or worrying in any way.

"Have them beam us directly to sick bay," McCoy said without turning, "The idiot's going to need surgery."

"What about Chekov?" Uhura asked. She grimaced as Chekov rolled his head against her shoulder and flung his hands out, nearly smacking her cheek.

"Perhaps the Lieutenant and Ensign Chekov should beam up after the doctor and the captain as his distress is less urgent. Lieutenant Sulu and I shall remain here to await the authorities."

Kirk flopped his hand lazily, and Sulu tried to ignore the bright red blood on his fingers, "Sounds good."

At that moment, the man Sulu had literally dropped on his head decided it was the perfect moment to attempt escape. Sulu had been expecting it, knowing that the idiots would assume they were distracted by their injured friend and pay them no attention. And to be honest, Sulu actually hoped one of them would be stupid enough to try because seeing his captain, his _friend_, laid out and bleeding while trying to protect an innocent kid caused Sulu all kinds of anger and pent up frustration. He was just itching to unleash it.

Idiot #2 gave him just the excuse as he shoved his companion to the side and surged to his feet, intending to make a run for it down the dingy alley. Spock moved forward, but for once, Sulu was faster, if only because he was closer. The man sprang up, made it two steps, and then Sulu was on him, slamming his foot into the back of the man's left leg. The man screamed as tendons stretched and ligaments snapped, and as he fell, Sulu grabbed his shoulder and threw him against the wall with a sickening thud. The man slumped to his knees, held up only by the fist clenched in the front of his shirt, and stared up at Sulu with a dazed expression. His eyes widened comically as Sulu's fist slammed into his nose, blood gushing from both nostrils and draining down his throat.

Sulu would be lying if he said he didn't feel an enormous amount of satisfaction as he felt cartilage and bone break under his knuckles.

He let go of the man and tried not to smirk as he slid to the ground in a boneless heap. When he turned back, he found Uhura looking at him with an expression of awe, Spock watching with that damn eyebrow as high as his hairline, and McCoy looking impressed, satisfied, and jealous that it wasn't him who broke the idiot's nose.

Kirk coughed out a weak laugh, "Freaking ninja."

* * *

Sulu found out later that Pavel Chekov understood everything that had happened in that alley. He remembered the men following him and pushing him against the wall, although at the time he was so out of his mind with the drug that he didn't think they were actually a threat. It wasn't until one of them grabbed his shirt and revealed the knife that he realized something was very wrong, and by then he had no control of his limbs to do anything about it.

From the way Chekov described it, Kirk came in like an angel, a very pissed off angel with a painful right hook that knocked the first man out with one hit. Kirk, for his part, said it wasn't nearly as exciting as Chekov made it sound. Especially since he managed to get stabbed within the first minute of the fight. But Chekov didn't want to hear Kirk's self-deprecation. As far as Sulu could tell, Chekov now fully hero worshiped Kirk almost as much as he did his mother land. But, Sulu had to admit, he had good reason to.

It was ironic to him that he'd begun the night intending to find out about the moment McCoy became loyal to Kirk, and instead, witnessed the moment Pavel Chekov did.

* * *

That night, when he commed Julia, he could barely keep his laughter in check as he played her the holovid he'd recorded of Chekov, still under the influence of the drug, and Kirk, flying high as a kite from the meds McCoy put him on, singing _Somewhere Over the Rainbow_ loudly, off key, and in Russian.

* * *

**A/N: The story McCoy tells Sulu is actually in the works. I plan to write it after I finish this one, hopefully. Thanks again to everyone that leaves a review!**

**Kudos.**


	3. Here There Be Cupcakes

**A/N: So this one kind of got away from me...yeah, I'm not going to apologize. Enjoy reading! And thanks so much for all of your fantastic reviews! You guys are amazing!**

* * *

Now that he'd started, Sulu couldn't seem to stop. It was like he'd been looking through tinted glasses and now they were off, and Sulu could see the moments happening all around him.

He would be watching as Kirk offered a compliment to a new ensign, briefly touching his arm and giving a genuine smile, and Sulu would see it happen like a switch being flipped. The smile turning up the corner's of the ensign's mouth tentatively, his eyes softening with gratitude and respect, his fingers clenching just a little bit tighter around the PADD in his hands, and his gaze lingering just a second longer when Kirk turned away. Sulu was getting good at recognizing the moments when Kirk earned his crew's loyalty.

He found that they weren't all the same. Sometimes, like with Sulu and Chekov, there was a life altering moment, a huge gesture that solidified their loyalty. Sometimes, the moments were softer, smaller in scale, like with the ensign. They varied from grandiose to nearly invisible, from sacrificial to humorous, but the result was always the same. And Sulu had somehow found himself becoming their keeper, gathering up these moments and remembering them like an ancient scribe.

And he found he just couldn't resist collecting more.

* * *

"It's not as good a story as yours, Hikaru," Julia told him as they sat down at an empty table in the mess, "It's really not a story at all."

"But there was a moment," Sulu pressed.

She frowned thoughtfully as she picked up her fork, "Well, yeah, I guess. Why do you want to know this?"

"Just curious," he said, "Come on, I told you mine. Tell me yours."

"Fine," she sighed, crunching a crouton under the assault with her fork, "It was when we were still getting our assignments after Vulcan. Nancy had already gotten her orders and I was worried because mine hadn't come through yet. I thought for sure that I wasn't going to get the Enterprise, and that…well, it would have sucked."

Sulu smirked, "Tell me about it."

She smiled at him fondly and continued, "Anyway, it was two days after Nancy got her orders and I was in my apartment wallowing in self pity when the door chimed. And there was McCoy, looking as grumpy as usual, and the captain was right behind him, beaming like a kid in the candy store. Nearly gave me a heart attack. And there I was still in my pajamas."

"The kitten ones?"

"No, owls. I was so embarrassed, but McCoy just barreled through and handed me a PADD with my orders on it and gave me this _shpeel _about taking time to consider it, but I'd already signed on the dotted line before he was even done speaking. The captain just laughed and welcomed me aboard, and that was that."

"That was that? Really?"

"Well, there was a little more to it. I thought the captain was just following McCoy around, you know, like they usually do because it was McCoy's responsibility as CMO to do the medical staff requests, but I found out from Lucy Donner in laundry that the captain had personally handed her her orders too. And Stephanie Paretsky works in the kitchen, and she told me the same thing," Julia stabbed a runaway tomato and grinned triumphantly, "Turned out, Kirk asked every single crew member personally, either in person or over a vid."

Sulu's eyes widened, "Seriously?"

"You didn't know that?"

"No, I mean, I knew he asked the bridge crew, but I thought that was just because we had to work so closely during the Narada incident. I didn't realize he'd asked everyone _personally_."

She pointed her tomato-nosed fork at him, "That expression of disbelief on your face? That was pretty much the same way I looked when I found out. And I guess, that was my moment. Finding out that I was serving under a captain that cared that much for a crew he barely knew kind of locked in my loyalty."

Sulu grinned, "Doesn't take much to please you, does it?"

She shrugged and bit off a bite of tomato, "Told you it wasn't that interesting."

"So, wait. The captain asked everyone?"

"That's what I said."

"Everyone. As in even Hendorff?"

Julia paused and glanced down the line of tables to wher the members of security sat, "Yeah, I guess. I mean, every person I've ever talked to about it said the captain gave them their assignments. I can only guess that means Hendorff, too."

Sulu looked at the burly man seated six tables away. Dressed in a red shirt and hunched over his tray like a stray dog guarding its scraps, Hendorff looked like an ogre compared to the rest of the security crew surrounding him. There was a permanent scowl affixed to his face that rarely lifted, and unlike McCoy whose scowl was more for show, Hendorff's actually seemed genuinely mean.

"Do you really think he asked?" Julia asked in a hushed whisper.

Sulu shrugged, "I have no idea. I can't imagine Hendorff actually saying yes if he did."

"I've heard the stories," Julia murmured, "Nyota told me that it's true Kirk called him Cupcake. And Stephanie told me he sends him cupcakes every once in a while."

Sulu snorted, "Of course he does. Kirk's the kind to aggravate the bull, not calm it down."

"Hendorff hates him, you know. I mean, full on, truly hates him. Lucy's dating Lieutenant Matthews in security, and he tells her how Hendorff despises the captain. He even said Kirk didn't deserve his commission."

Sulu scowled and tightened his grip on his fork, "What the hell does he know?"

Julia reached across the table and laid her hand on his arm, "Calm down, Hikaru. It's not a big deal. There's nothing you can do about it any way."

"It is a big deal," Sulu protested, "Hendorff is Chief of Security; it's his job to protect Kirk when we're on away missions. How can he be trusted to watch his back if he's constantly talking behind it?"

Julia watched him for a moment, her mouth parted slightly in astonishment. Then a flicker of affection flitted across her face. She stood, leaned over their trays, and chastely kissed his lips. When she pulled back, she was smiling softly at him.

"I love how loyal you are, Lieutenant Sulu," she said, "It's the mark of a good man."

Some of the anger dissipated, and Sulu kissed her back, "If you say so, Nurse Dawson."

* * *

Three days later, Sulu was standing on the transporter pad double checking his phaser and his sword. He didn't think the sword was necessary, but the captain was insistent that he bring it. Sulu thought he just wanted to play with it when the diplomats weren't looking, and Sulu didn't really blame him. Three days of diplomatic peace talks were going to be boring as hell.

Beside him, Hendorff was issuing orders to Lieutenant Jake Matthews from security and Ensign Carrie Grafton from linguistics. The diplomats they were meeting with spoke Standard, but the captain made it a practice to have someone along who spoke the native language in case they tried to speak secretively. It was a good tactic, and Sulu couldn't begrudge Kirk being cautious. They were, after all, beaming down to discuss the topic of civil war and how to avoid it. The captain himself was not on the platform, but hovering over the console with Chekov. They were not, Sulu noted, talking about the mission at all.

"I'm telling you, Pavel," Kirk said in a hushed tone, "All you have to do is ask."

"Yes," Chekov stuttered, "but vhat if she says no?"

Kirk clapped him on the shoulder, "Then that's her loss, but you aren't going to know unless you try."

"_Da_, but she is so pretty!"

Kirk scoffed, "And what are you, chopped liver?" Chekov blushed and ducked his head, "Pavel, you're smart, you're funny, and if even half of the female crew is to be believed, you're adorable. Trust me, she'll say yes."

Chekov nodded and muttered something else that Sulu didn't catch. His attention was diverted from the scene as Hendorff turned from the others to face Sulu.

"Lieutenant," he said in a voice as rough as gravel, "you have combat training, correct?"

Sulu nodded stiffly.

"Good. If something goes wrong down there, I want you to stick close to Matthews. He's assigned to Grafton and I've got Kirk. If things take a turn for the worse, use your training, but stay with Matthews."

Sulu glanced at his captain, "Wouldn't it be smarter to stick with you and the captain? Grafton has little training. Matthews will need to keep his mind on her, not me."

Hendorff snorted, "The captain is a full time job, Sulu. I can't be worrying about you and him. You stick with Matthews; I'll worry about Kirk."

That was the problem: Sulu didn't trust Hendorff to worry about the captain. Not in the same sense that Kirk would worry about him, or that Sulu had come to worry about his friend. There was a difference between doing what you had to, and feeling a compelling need to do _everything_ in your power to protect a life. And Sulu didn't trust Hendorff to understand that at all.

"We all set?" Kirk called from the console.

A chorus of _yes, sirs_ reigned from the platform, but before Kirk even took a step to towards the pad, McCoy and Julia appeared in the door way.

"Bones!" Kirk crowed happily, "What're you doing here?"

"Boosters," McCoy told him and then deftly plunged a hypo into his neck.

"Damn it, Bones," Kirk squawked as he danced away, nearly tripping over Chekov's chair, "I thought we agreed that if hypos had to be given, Jules was going to do it."

"You said it. I never agreed to it," McCoy grinned as Julia handed him another hypo, "Stop being an infant. That barely hurt."

Kirk rubbed his neck and looked helplessly at Julia, who only shrugged sympathetically and headed to Sulu. She gently depressed the hypo into his arm, but didn't move away from him. It was then that Sulu noticed McCoy had two more hypos in his hand in addition to the one he was giving Hendorff. He looked back at Julia just as she slipped her arm around his waist.

"Kirk ordered us to come down here to give you guys boosters you should have gotten on your pre-mission exam," she told him softly, "and he distinctly told McCoy to let me give you yours. I think he just wanted to give me a reason to be down here when you beam out."

Sulu grinned and wrapped his arm around her back, "One of these days, I'm going to have to thank him properly for being such a good wingman."

Julia grinned wide and kissed him gently before standing on her tip toes and wrapping him in a firm hug, resting her chin on his shoulder and her cheek against his ear, "Be safe down there, Hikaru."

He kissed her cheek, "Always, Jules."

When she backed away, Sulu didn't fail to notice the deeper scowl on Hendorff's face or the sneer as Kirk grinned widely at Julia when she hugged him briefly. As Julia moved off the platform and Kirk stepped up, McCoy grabbed him by the arm. His face was hard, his mouth in a firm, unhappy line that tightened his jaw in what most people would call anger, but Sulu saw it for what it was. Worry.

"If you have to come to sickbay after this," McCoy said lowly, "I'm confiscating the cookies. For a month."

Kirk sputtered for a moment and then gently pried McCoy's hand off his arm, "No worries, Bones. I'll be back in one piece. Promise."

McCoy scoffed, a noise that clearly meant _I don't believe you in the slightest_, but stepped away and let Kirk take his place on the platform.

"Cookies?" Sulu asked.

"They're damn good cookies," Kirk muttered.

Julia smiling at him was the last image Sulu had before they beamed down to the planet...

...and straight into hell.

The moment they materialized on the ground the world exploded. Sulu had a half second to recognize the whine of a missile thirty yards in front of them before it ignited and sent all five of them tumbling backward, ass over feet. Sounds of yelling and screaming and gunfire erupted around them in a cacophony of noise that disoriented Sulu almost as much as the jarring force that sent his back careening into the unforgiving ground. His vision blurred for a moment, swimming slightly at the edges before he blinked and it cleared. Not that it did him any good. The air was thick with dust and smoke, and it smelled like sulfur and blood.

They had beamed directly into a war zone.

"Sulu! Get your ass moving!"

Sulu snapped to attention at Kirk's gruff voice. He stumbled to his feet, listing sideways, and turned to assess the scene. Kirk was to the right on one knee, leaning over Matthews who was weakly trying to roll over. Behind him, Hendorff was helping a stunned Grafton to her feet, lifting the girl like she was nothing more than a paper doll.

"Help me with Matthews," Kirk ordered as Sulu lumbered toward them, "Hendorff! Head for that shelter!"

"Sir, we need to contact the Enter-"

"Do as I say!"

Hendorff snapped his mouth shut and practically carried Grafton toward the small shed-like building a hundred yards ahead of them. Another explosion took out part of the compound they were supposed to use for peace talks. Sulu watched in morbid fascination as part of the roof caved in and a wall completely splintered. The blue skinned natives, armed with weapons similar to 20th century guns and arsenal, fired at will at the warring revolutionists they'd been fighting with for decades. Sulu couldn't tell who was who, and in the end, it really didn't matter. Their bodies were still lying dead on the ground, bleeding the same orange-tinted blood into the soil.

With Matthews lolling between them, Kirk and Sulu moved as fast as they could to the shelter. Hendorff leaned against the door, firing off warning blasts with his phaser. As soon as they were inside, he kicked the door shut and manned his post at one of the two windows inside the hut.

"What the hell happened?" Sulu demanded breathlessly.

"Apparently, peace talks are out of the question," Kirk answered, panting himself, "You okay, Sulu?"

He nodded, though it made his head spin, "Yes, sir. I knocked my head, but I'm fine."

"Good. Hendorff? Grafton? Any injuries to report?"

"Negative, sir," Hendorff said, "Grafton was just stunned and a little shocked."

"We almost got blown up!" Grafton nearly shouted. She was on her knees in the corner of the shed, her eyes blown wide with panic, her hair in complete disarray, "We almost got blown up!"

"Calm down, Ensign. I need your head on straight. Who has the med kit?" Kirk demanded. Grafton, still muttering the same sentence under her breath, handed it to him as he leaned over Matthews, "Lieutenant, I need you to open your eyes for me."

Matthews' lids fluttered but remained closed.

"Hendorff, hail the Enterprise," Kirk ordered over his shoulder, "Sulu, get his shirt out of the way so we can see the wound."

Sulu ripped the remaining shreds of the Lieutenant's shirt away from the wound, careful not to jar it. Shrapnel had caught Matthews in the side, leaving three long scrapes from his hip nearly to his navel and one puncture wound the size of a data chip directly above his hip bone. The wounds oozed blood in steady streaks, staining the band of his pants and pooling on the floor beneath him.

"I've got no response, sir," Hendorff told Kirk, "Just static."

Kirk cursed under his breath but didn't stop his task. He pulled out two large compression bandages and handed one to Sulu, ordering him to open it. He pressed one over the three cuts and the second over the puncture, pressing down hard enough to raise a cry of pain from Matthews.

"Grafton, I need you over here," he ordered crisply. The ensign shuffled around Sulu and dropped beside him, placing her hands where Kirk's had been. As she and Sulu kept pressure on the wounds, Kirk grabbed a hypo from the kit, loaded it, and depressed it into Matthews' neck.

"Sir, we need to find a way to communicate with the ship," Hendorff said from the window, scowling at the comm in his hand, "These things are useless."

"In a minute, Hendorff."

"But, sir-"

"As soon as I get Matthews' stabilized we'll worry about getting out of here. We're safe for now. Just watch your window."

Hendorff huffed, but thankfully didn't argue again.

"Captain, I think he's coming round," Grafton said.

Kirk moved around her so he was near Matthews' head and gently tapped the fallen man's cheek, "Matthews, you with me? Come on, Jake. Time to open your eyes."

Matthews coughed and groaned, but his eyes opened to small slits, "Sir?"

"That's it, buddy. Time to wake up."

Matthews bit back a pained grunt and opened his eyes fully, "The hell h'ppn?"

"Nothing special. You just nearly got blown up," Kirk said off handedly, "I gave you a pain killer. You feel it working?"

Matthews tried to nod, but Kirk stopped him by placing both hands on either side of his neck, "Don't move your head. Use your words to answer, Jake, or just blink if you have to. I don't think you hurt your back, but the less you move the better."

"Yessir."

"Good, now listen carefully. Carrie here is going to stay with you. You need to talk to her and stay awake, do you understand me?"

Matthews shifted his chin, but stopped before he nodded, "Yessir."

Kirk squeezed Matthews' shoulder, "You're going to be fine, Jake." He turned to Grafton and said softly, "Keep pressure on his wounds and keep him awake. He's got a concussion and the last thing we need is him going into a coma. Think you can handle that, Carrie?"

She nodded vigorously, "Yes, sir."

"Sulu, you're with me."

Sulu got to his feet and followed Kirk to the other window on the wall opposite of the one Hendorff was stationed at. They knelt down together and peered into a world of chaos and bloodshed.

"Shit," Kirk hissed under his breath, "What the fuck happened down here?"

Sulu grimaced as he watched a blue-skinned man fall from a bullet to the chest, "I don't know, Captain, but something must have escalated the hostilities. They were willing to talk peace. That was the whole reason they brought Starfleet in."

"Yeah," Kirk sighed, running his hand down his face, "Would have been nice to know before we beamed our asses right into the crossfire."

"Agreed, sir. So what do we do now?"

"Now, we try to figure out what the hell is wrong with the communicators and we keep Matthews' alive until Bones can fix him up. You watch this side, Sulu. I'm going to talk with Hendorff."

"Yes, sir," Sulu said, and before Kirk skitter away, he asked, "How did you know what to do?"

Kirk paused, "What?"

Sulu gestured to Matthews, "How did you know what to do for him?"

A wicked smirk lifted his lips, "You don't get to be Bones' patient as much as I do and not pick up a few things, Lieutenant."

Sulu matched his smirk and turned back to his post, his phaser armed and ready. His hand drifted down to the sword attached to his belt in a habitual move that never failed to give him comfort. He'd have to thank Kirk for making him bring it.

Actually, if he was honest, there was a lot he had to thank Kirk for.

For saving his life. For accepting him onto his crew. For being a friend. For helping him with Julia. For manipulating things so Julia could say goodbye before this clusterfuck of a mission because if this was the place he died at least he got to say goodbye. The list, it seemed, was endless.

"Sulu."

He turned just as Kirk joined him again, and he noticed for the first time how haggard the other man looked. His eyes were bloodshot, his face smeared in dirt, his uniform torn, and his hands covered in blood. And it occurred to Sulu that even though the Captain had accounted for their injuries, no one had asked about his.

"Sir, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Kirk answered, and really, why did Sulu even bother? Of course that was Kirk's answer.

"We've got a plan," Kirk said, "but it's going to involve a lot of running."

Sulu flicked his gaze to Matthews, "What about-"

"Between Grafton and me, we'll get him through. Hendorff is going to cover us as we leave and bring up the rear, but I'm afraid that means you'll have to lead, Sulu."

He tightened his grip on his phaser, "No problem, sir. Just where are we running, too?"

"North. We're on the edge of the compound, and all of the crossfire is to the south of us. Best I can figure, one of the sides is using a jammer to keep their enemy out of radio contact and its messing with our comms. If we make a run for the lake north of us, get some distance between us, we can hail the ship," Kirk eyed him warily, as if expecting him to argue, "Think you can handle that, Lieutenant?"

"Ready when you are, sir."

The thing of it was, Sulu decided, loyalty was too simple of a word to encompass all that sentiment meant.

Loyalty meant trust. It meant obedience and honesty and honor. It meant that when Kirk offered a crazy plan, Sulu didn't voice his doubts. He didn't bring up the fact that they already had shelter so why would they leave? Or that by running to a new location they were risking further injury to Matthews and themselves on the off chance that jammers were the problem and not something else entirely. He didn't mention any of his misgivings, and to be honest, the moment they popped up, he squashed them back down.

Because Sulu trusted that Kirk was putting his team ahead of the mission and had thought things through, that he was doing what he thought was the best way to get them out without getting them killed.

And, hell, Sulu had followed crazier orders with less reason, so why the hell not?

"This is a stupid plan," Hendorff huffed, "He's going to get us all killed."

Sulu charged his phaser from stun to kill, "He's going to get us home. You questioning him, that's going to get us killed."

Hendorff snorted, "A good soldier follows orders, but that doesn't mean we don't question them. We have cover. We should stay low and stay alive until-"

"Until the natives decide to come in after us? Or until one of those missiles blows this building up like they did the compound?" Sulu shook his head, "And how long should we wait? Until our comms start magically working again? Until Matthews succumbs to his wounds?"

Hendorff scowled at him, "You're like a damn puppy, sticking up for him and running around in his shadow. Don't you ever think for yourself, Sulu?"

"Maybe you should stop thinking for yourself, Hendorff," Sulu bit out, "The captain's only objective is to get us the hell out of here, alive. He knows what he's doing."

"His only objective is to cover his own ass," Hendorff hissed, "He doesn't care about us. The moment one of us drops out there, he's going to keep hightailing it to the lake just to save his own skin. He'll leave us all behind, just wait and see."

Sulu bristled and clenched his teeth, "What makes you so sure he'd do that?"

"Because I know his kind-selfish, arrogant, had everything handed to him because he knows the right people and spins the right words. He's not the kind of man-"

"To hear every word you're saying?"

Hendorff nearly dropped his phaser as he spun around to face Kirk. Sulu would have loved to watch Kirk wipe the floor with Hendorff, but the captain just smirked in amusement.

"It's a shed the size of a bathroom, Cupcake," Kirk said, "and you aren't exactly quiet."

Hendorff at least had the decency to turn red, "Sir, I wasn't-"

"Your objections to my plan have been heard, Lieutenant Hendorff, and I've dismissed them. I realize you have opinions about my character, and you're entitled to them, but just at the moment, why don't you keep them to yourself so we can get out of this hell hole?"

Hendorff nodded tightly, "Yes, sir."

"Fantastic," Kirk smirked again, "And in the future, try to remember who you're bad mouthing to. For whatever reason, Sulu seems to like me, and he's very good with a sword. And from the looks of it, he's one step away from using it."

Hendorff glanced at Sulu who did not attempt to hide the fact his hand was gripping the hilt of his sword tightly. He narrowed his eyes at Hendorff as he stepped passed him, pausing in Hendorff's personal space.

"Kirk won't leave you behind out there," Sulu told him quietly, "but I just might."

"Sulu, quit gossiping, and get over here and help me with Matthews."

Sulu gave Hendorff one last dark look and hurried to Kirk's side. Grafton was busy packing up the med kit while simultaneously trying to wipe the drying blood off her hands. Matthews was propped against the wall, face sweaty and clammy as he attempted to control his breathing. The wound had stopped bleeding and Kirk had decided there were no back injuries to worry about, but there was still the matter of the shrapnel in Matthews side. Kirk was confident that it wasn't close enough to hurt anything vital, but moving Matthews was going to jostle it. It was only a matter of time before the bits of metal punctured something important and left Matthews dying.

"You ready, Jake?" Kirk asked, one hand on the injured man's shoulder.

"As I'll ever be, sir," Matthews said breathlessly, "Sir, if this doesn't work, I need you to-"

"Matthews, the next words out of your mouth better be 'get me the hell off this crappy planet' because that's the only thing that's going to happen."

"Sir, you don't-"

"Besides, if I come back without you, Lucy is going to quite literally kill me. I'm already going to have shrunken shirts and bleach stains on my pants for a month because I got you wounded."

Really, Sulu shouldn't have been surprised that Kirk not only seemed to know Matthews well enough to remember and use his first name, but also know who his girlfriend was and where she worked. He wanted to shout at Hendorff, demand to know how someone who was supposedly selfish enough to leave a man behind could know those kind of details. But he knew the lesson would be lost on Hendorff, so he settled for listening to Kirk banter with Matthews.

"You afraid of my girlfriend, sir?"

"Damn right I am! She knows which detergents I'm allergic to. If I'm not careful, I'll have rashes in places I don't want to imagine," Kirk smirked as Matthews laughed weakly, "You ready to get back to that scary girl of yours, Lieutenant?"

Matthews nodded grimly, "Yes, sir."

"Sulu, help him stand. Grafton, get ready to get under his other arm."

The process of getting Matthews on his feet was an unsteady one. Matthews listed to the side and very nearly passed out, slumping on Kirk's shoulder for several moments before he was strong enough to stand upright. Grafton moved under Matthews' arm on his injured side, carefully wrapping her arm around his waist. Kirk took the uninjured side because he was stronger than the petite ensign and Matthews was able to lean heavily on him to ease the strain on his wounds. They were a sight, Sulu mused as he stepped back- Grafton, small and disheveled, clutching the med kit with her free hand; Matthews, weak and unstable on shaking legs, sagging between both of his supports; and Kirk standing straight and tall, never bending under the weight of his man, and holding an armed phaser in his left hand.

"Ready, lieutenants?" Kirk asked.

Sulu raised his phraser, taking his position on the other side of the door opposite Hendorff. Hendorff had one hand on the door, the other holding his phaser high, and nodded tersely.

Kirk smirked, "Punch it."

Hendorff flung open the door, and Sulu came out firing at anything that moved. A barrage of sensations assaulted him the moment he stepped into the open- the smell of smoke and burning flesh, the dry heat of the planet's atmosphere, the sounds of explosions, shouts, and gunfire. It was enough to overwhelm him, but Sulu pushed through, shot the leg of a native aiming a gun his way, and ran north, glancing over his shoulder every other second to check the others' progress.

Kirk was hauling Matthews, and in turn Grafton, only a few steps behind Sulu. Hendorff was only another step behind them, turned slightly to fire at two natives that charged their way. Sulu resisted the urge to double back and take Matthews from Grafton as she stumbled for the umpteenth time, struggling with the injured man's weight and Kirk's fast pace.

"Sulu, head for the trees!"

Sulu diverted left, obeying Kirk's order without thinking. The battle was thinning the farther north they ran. He took down another native as he fired his gun at Sulu's head, thankful the bullet went wild as the man collapsed. They were less than a hundred yards from the trees; the shore of the lake was another two hundred yards after that. They were going to make it.

Of course, karma and all her bitchiness just had to prove him wrong.

He heard Hendorff's shout of warning a moment before the explosion. The concussive wave sent him stumbling forward, but Sulu kept his feet under him and spun around, eyes widening when he saw Grafton struggling under Matthews' now completely dead weight and Kirk stumbling to his knees, then his feet, blinking blood from his eyes. A yard behind them, Hendorff lay sprawled out on the ground, unmoving, a smoldering crater not far behind him where a grenade-esque weapon had exploded.

"Sulu, get Matthews and Grafton to the lake!" Kirk yelled over his shoulder as he stumbled back to Hendorff.

Sulu cursed in every language that he knew as he doubled back and wrenched Matthews' off of Grafton.

"Grafton, get under his arm," Sulu ordered, "We've gotta go."

Grafton staggered to her feet, still gripping the med kit in her hand, and grabbed Matthews' other arm. Between them, they half-carried, half-dragged the injured lieutenant through the trees.

"Where's the captain?" Grafton asked breathlessly.

Sulu swore as his foot caught on a root and wrenched his ankle painfully, "He's coming. Keep going. We're almost there."

They burst through the trees, stumbling to their knees as Sulu's ankle finally gave out and Matthews' dead weight dragged them down. Sulu fumbled for his communicator as Grafton rolled Matthews onto his back.

"He's bleeding again," she said, and Sulu tried not to notice that tears leaking through in her voice.

"Sulu to Enterprise, do you read me?"

There was a burst of static and then...

_"This is the Enterprise. Ve read you, Sulu. Vhat is going on?"_

Sulu nearly collapsed in relief, "Chekov, we need an immediate beam out. We were met with several hostiles and the situation has deteriorated. Matthews and Hendorff are severely wounded."

_"Ve vill beam you out immediately. Vhere is the captain?"_

"He's getting Hendorff. Get a read on Grafton and Matthews and beam them out now, Chekov."

Grafton looked up at him sharply, "Sulu-"

"Don't argue with me, Ensign," Sulu said, "Chekov, did you copy?"

_"Aye. I am getting a lock on them now."_

Sulu stood and staggered away from Grafton and Matthews just as white light began to swirl around them. Grafton's face was a mixture of relief and worry as her tears finally began to fall, and then she disappeared.

_"Sulu, vhat is the statis of the captain and Mr. Hendorff?"_

"I'm working on it," Sulu said, and limped back toward the trees, "Give me a minute to-"

He didn't need a minute. The captain came charging through the trees with Hendorff sagging over his shoulders and two hostiles on his tail. Sulu ignored the worried chatter that came with a Russian accent and raised his phaser, taking down the closest hostile with a well aimed shot to the chest. He tried to shoot the second one, but the captain and his rather large cargo were in his line of fire.

"Captain, drop!" Sulu shouted just as the hostile raised his weapon.

Several things happened at once. Kirk dropped to his knees just as he cleared the tree line and quite literally threw Hendorff onto the beach. At the same time, the hostile fired off three shots. One splintered the trunk of a tree inches away from Kirk's head; another speared past Sulu's side, ripping the fabric of his shirt and nicking the skin. He lost track of the third one as he fired off two shots of his one. One to the head, one to the chest. Sulu didn't miss.

He dropped to his knees beside Hendorff and watched with anxious eyes as the captain crawled toward them, dragging his left leg behind him, leaving a macabre trail of blood in the sand.

"Chekov! Three to beam up! Now!" Sulu screamed into the comm. He could see four more hostiles running through the trees.

_"Da! Da! I've got you-"_

Opalescent light filled Sulu's vision, and then instead of trees and sand and water, he was staring at an animated Chekov and nervous medical team.

"-I've got you," Chekov finished, his grin almost as blinding as the transporter beam.

Sulu sagged to the ground, dropping his comm with a loud clatter, but his smile was almost as big as Chekov's. Beside him, Kirk fumbled to his knees.

"Good job, Chekov," he panted, "Now does someone want to come help my Chief of Security?"

The astonished medical team jumped into action, bringing over a gurney and easing the still unresponsive Hendorff on to his back. Sulu scooted out of the way, too exhausted to attempt to stand and head to sickbay on his own just yet. He glanced at Kirk's leg, noting the torn fabric of his pants and the heavy blood stain soaking the fibers and the pristine floor.

"Sir, your leg."

Kirk tore his eyes away from the nurses working on Hendorff, "Caught shrapnel when the grenade thing took Hendorff down."

Sulu stared at him and then tilted his head back against the wall, and _laughed_. A bit maniacally, possibly a little hysterically, he laughed until tears ran down his face and his sides ached and he was gasping for breath.

"Sulu, what the hell is wrong with you?" Kirk demanded.

"You went back for him," Sulu gasped, wiping away a tear, "with _shrapnel_ in your leg."

Kirk quirked an eyebrow at him, glanced at Hendorff as he was loaded onto the stretcher, and then grinned widely at Sulu, "I am giving him the biggest damn cupcake of all time for this. He will never hear the end of it."

Sulu laughed again and used the wall to get to his feet, "Come on, sir. I think a visit to Dr. McCoy is inevitable."

Kirk sobered, "Ah, damn it. He's going to take my cookies."

Sulu chuckled and offered him his hand, watching the medical team push Hendorff out of the room. Two more nurses came in with another gurney; one of them was Julia. Sulu didn't think he'd ever seen anyone look so relieved as she did as she approached the platform.

Kirk took Sulu's hand and started to stand. He barely made it off his knees when a pained hiss passed his lips and all of the blood drained from his face, suddenly listing to the side and sinking back down with a soft, _"Oh."_

"Sir?" Sulu followed him down, his heart beat rising as Kirk not only dropped to his knees but fell to his side, "Shit, we need help!"

Julia and the other nurse rushed toward them, tricorders out and hypos at the ready. Sulu glanced at Kirk's leg, and paled when he saw the massive puddle of blood rapidly growing under his thigh. He instinctively wrapped both hands around the wound and pressed down hard.

"What happened?" Julia demanded.

"He's got shrapnel in his leg," Sulu hissed through clenched teeth. Blood was welling up between his fingers and he pressed harder still. Kirk mumbled something under his breath and promptly passed out.

"It's hit the artery," the second nurse said, "and he's got some kind of deep wound in his back just above his kidneys. I think he's been shot."

"Shit," Sulu cursed again, remembering that third unaccounted bullet from the hostile. Of course, of _fucking_ course it hit Kirk. He should be counting his blessings that all _three_ shots didn't hit him.

"We need to get him on the gurney," the nurse said, "We have to get him-"

"We move him, he dies," Julia said gruffly, "Right now, Sulu's hands are the only thing keeping the captain from bleeding out."

"He can't stay here-"

"Chekov," Sulu barked, "Beam us directly to sickbay!"

Chekov didn't hesitate, didn't even question his command, and for that, Sulu would forever be grateful. Because the last thing Sulu needed was to feel his captain literally die beneath his hands.

When they materialized in the middle of sickbay, he didn't know who was more surprised: the nurses or McCoy.

"What the hell!" McCoy shouted.

"Femoral artery's been nicked," Julia spouted off, having recovered from her shock, "projectile lodged above his kidneys, severe blood loss, BP is 60 over 40 and dropping fast."

"Shit," McCoy muttered, and Sulu was pretty certain he said a few other words too before he started shouting orders, "M'Benga, get Chapel and Coralley on Matthews. You've got Hendorff. Nancy, get me gauze and compression pads. And somebody get me a damn gurney!"

Julia pressed her hands over Sulu's and looked at him gravely, "Whatever you do, don't move your hands."

Right, like he had to be told.

McCoy hovered beside Kirk's head, dispensing hypo after hypo into his neck, and that alone scared Sulu. The fact that he was doing it gently, carefully, like Kirk was one small pain away from death. Sulu felt the wet blood under his hands. Maybe he was.

Nancy appeared beside him, "I've got the gauze. Do you want me to apply pressure?"

"Get him on the gurney first," McCoy ordered, "I'm going to roll him on his side, toward you, Sulu, and we're going to slip it under him. On three."

Sulu bit his lip as McCoy rolled Kirk, pressing with all of his might onto the wound, thankful Kirk was passed out and unable to feel it. Julia and McCoy pushed the stretcher under Kirk's limp body and gently rolled him back, but not before Sulu saw the massive blood patch on the captain's golden tunic.

"Turn on the anti-grav," McCoy ordered and looked directly at Sulu, "Don't you dare let up on pressure, you hear me?"

Sulu nodded tersely, and rose with the machine even as his injured ankle protested with its own cries of pain. Around him, McCoy was shouting orders and alarms were wailing, but all Sulu could see was the shallow rise and fall of Kirk's chest and the blood that coated, that _drenched_ his hands. And the severity hit Sulu like the concussive force of an explosion. Kirk, his eccentric, crazy, _I don't believe in no-win scenarios_, never say die Captain, was _dying._

"You have to let go."

Sulu snapped his head up, "What?"

Julia gripped his wrist, "You have to let go."

"You said not to," he said softly.

"You have to," she said gently, "so we can save him."

Sulu swallowed, hesitated one second more, and then stepped away.

Nancy instantly took his place, slapping pad after pad on to the gushing wound. Another alarm sounded and McCoy yelled for them to move, and then all three of them were pushing the stretcher to the operating room and disappearing behind sanitized doors. Julia glanced at him once, and the worried, uncertain look did nothing to reassure him.

He stood stalk still in the middle of the room staring at the doors for longer than he realized. The nurse from the transporter room briefly touched his arm.

"Lieutenant, are you alright?"

His ankle hurt. His side hurt. His head hurt. His captain was dying.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm al-"

And then he looked at his hands and saw the red that stained the patterns in his skin, and the blood that dried under the crescents of his fingernails, and the dark, dark crimson that smeared and congealed between his fingers.

He stumbled away, barely making it to a waste bin, and hurled until there was nothing left inside of him to bring back up.

Then he passed out.

* * *

"He's going to be fine."

Sulu nodded, but didn't take his eyes off of Kirk's still form a bio bed away. He sat on the edge of his own bed, his hands now clean and held firmly in Julia's as she stood between his legs.

"I promise," she whispered, leaning her forehead against his temple.

Six hours of surgery. Enough bags of blood to refill his body twice over. Four pieces of shrapnel, one bullet, and six holes in his body that weren't supposed to be there.

But he was going to be fine.

"Hikaru," Julia breathed against his skin, "It's alright."

It wasn't. In any sense of the word. A lump formed in his throat, tight and choking, nearly as damning as the tears that suddenly stung his eyes and filled his vision until Kirk's form was just a fuzzy blur.

Julia kissed him just above his eyebrow and let her lips linger there, "It's okay to let go."

He tugged her close, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her flush to him. She held his face in her hands, pressing her forehead against his as he closed his eyes tightly and let the tears fall. She kissed every one of them away.

"It's going to be alright," she whispered, "I promise."

* * *

Sulu was there when Hendorff woke up and demanded to know what happened. It was nearly twelve hours after they'd been beamed back, six hours after McCoy declared that Kirk wasn't going to die, and Sulu was in sickbay with no other reason than the quite obvious fact that he was worried.

Matthews had pulled through with only three hours of surgery to repair the damage done by the piece of shrapnel lodged in his side. He was still there, talking with Lucy, his girlfriend from laundry, and Carrie Grafton, who had fared the best of them all. She had minor lacerations, a few bruises, and a sprained wrist. But like Sulu, she couldn't bring herself to leave just yet.

They all knew why, and it had to do with a certain captain that probably wouldn't wake up for several more hours.

Aside from Kirk, Hendorff was the worst off. He'd suffered a skull fracture that required surgery to release pressure on his brain. M'Benga had worked for several hours to repair the damage, but aside from that and a few giant bruises on his back from where Kirk had thrown him to the ground, Hendorff was the picture of health.

Julia did his preliminary checks when he woke, and by the time she was done, Hendorff was awake enough to form complete sentences. By the time McCoy came over to inform him of his condition, he was back to his usual scowl and less than friendly disposition.

"I don't care about my head, doc," Hendorff groused, "I want to know what the hell happened."

"What happened is you got your fool head caved in," McCoy told him, "and you're damn lucky to be alive."

Hendorff's eye twitched, "But how the hell'd we get off the planet? Don't tell me the captain's crazy plan worked."

"Fine, I won't tell you, jackass."

"Hey! Don't talk to me like that, or I'll-"

"You'll what? File a complaint? Be my guest. I'll call you whatever I want since your the reason I had to spend six hours restructuring Captain Kirk's femoral artery. So if I want to call you jackass, dumbass, and asshat, I'm damn well gonna."

"What do you mean because of me?" Hendorff demanded, and Sulu watched his blood pressure spike fantastically high on the monitor, "I didn't tell the damn idiot to run out in the open like that!"

Julia, despite being half of his size, was able to hold McCoy back before he could lunge across the bed and undo all of M'Benga's hard work. The problem was she was only one person, and with her hands full of Jim Kirk's raging best friend, she could do nothing about his seething helmsman.

Sulu stopped himself just short of the bed, but the tense lines of his shoulders and the absolutely feral look on his face was enough to make Hendorff, mountain of a man that he was, lean back and snap his mouth shut.

"You went down," Sulu said in low, clipped tones that held enough ice to rival Delta Vega, "Kirk went back with _shrapnel_ in his god damn leg and he carried your ass for three hundred yards only to take a bullet in the back after throwing you out of the way."

Hendorff swallowed hard and wisely didn't say a word.

"Any other man would have left your ass behind," Sulu allowed himself a sardonic smile, "Lucky for you, we both know he's not that kind of man."

He turned on his heel and didn't stop until he was in the corridor, leaning back against the wall, breathing hard, and resisting the urge to plow his fist through a panel.

A moment later, McCoy was standing beside him, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall.

"A lesser man would have hit him," McCoy said finally.

"I wanted to."

"I almost did. Your girlfriend is stronger than I thought. Also a lot bossier. She kicked me out."

Sulu huffed a laugh and arched an eyebrow at him, "Asshat?"

McCoy shrugged, "I ran out of insults that wouldn't actually land me a reprimand." McCoy sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, leaning his head back to look up at the ceiling, "He's going to get himself killed some day."

Sulu closed his eyes, not having to ask who they were suddenly talking about.

"One of these days, he's going to come back and I'm not going to be able to patch him up," McCoy said gruffly and with more regret than Sulu had ever heard, "I can't pretend that it ain't gonna happen. Damn fool throws himself into danger head first every chance he gets."

"Yeah," Sulu agreed softly.

And so it became a quiet understanding that they never spoke of again. Sulu would do his damnedest to keep Kirk alive until McCoy could fix him, and the day they couldn't, they'd be there for each other.

Sulu prayed that day was a long time coming.

* * *

He never expected to see it, let alone witness the moment it happened, but stranger things had happened in Sulu's life.

He walked into sickbay to visit the captain who had finally woken up a full twenty hours after his surgery, but came up short. Hendorff was in a bio bed right next to Kirk's, both of them sitting up, although Kirk was slouching heavily against his pillow. An ensign from the kitchen was standing next to Kirk, handing him a plate holding a giant cupcake coated in pink frosting. Kirk grinned wide as he handed it to Hendorff, using his finger to swipe off a giant glob of frosting and popping it in his mouth.

And Hendorff looked at Kirk with an expression that Sulu had come so used to recognizing. His eyes softened at the corners, his mouth curled down and up at the same time, his fingers tightened on the plate, and Sulu knew without a doubt that he would never have to question G. P. Hendorff's loyalty again.

Though, the man was still a jackass, a dumbass, and an asshat all rolled into one.

* * *

**A/N: ****So I feel like I should apologize for Sulu's possible OOC character. I tried my best to keep him in character, and maybe I had him react to strongly, but I felt that as he watches other people's loyalty show, his is only going to grow more. So, yeah, sorry. But, hey, feel free to yell at me in your reviews, even negative ones make me happy. And the more I get the faster I update! Hint, hint!  
**

**Kudos**


	4. Thou Shalt Not Murder Peas

**A/N: Hey, all! Thanks to all who reviewed. I realize that the last chapter left a lot to be desired, but thanks for sticking with it. I apologize if some of you didn't particularly care for it, or found fault with it. For this chapter, be prepared for a lot of BS when it comes to the problems with the generators. I don't pretend to know any more than Sulu does when it comes to engineering (or about Sulu's job to help with the plants. Really I just needed a reason to get him planetside), so just roll with it. And please don't tell me how poorly I did with the terms and issues because, believe me, I _know_. But hopefully you can look past it and enjoy the story just the same.**

**By now, I hope I don't have to tell everyone that I don't own anything even remotely Star Trek related, except for some tiny ship replicas that cost me more than I could ever hope to get from writing fanfiction. But, disclaimer and all that.**

* * *

"What do you mean you're breaking up?"

"Well, it's not like I _want_ to."

"Then why the hell is it even an option?" Kirk demanded, grunting as the wrench he was using slipped in his hand and nearly knocked him in the face, "If you don't want to break up and she doesn't want to break up, why are we talking about it?"

"I don't know if she wants to break up," Sulu admitted, "but from the argument we had three days ago and the fact that she hasn't spoken a word to me since, I'd say it's a pretty high possibility."

"But you don't know. Not for sure anyway."

Sulu shook his head, "She won't return my comms and the two times I've tried to catch her in sickbay, Nancy kicked me out with a hypospray. Short of hiding in her room until she's off shift, I don't know what to do."

Kirk grunted, dropping the wrench and using his hands to adjust a clump of wires. He was lying on his back, his entire upper body hidden under the dilapidated and malfunctioning wrenches and other tools lay strewn around him; every once in a while, he would stretch out a grease covered hand and ask Sulu to hand him one, which Sulu usually got wrong. He didn't know half of the names of the thingies and doodads lying at his feet.

He wasn't even supposed to be down here. They'd beamed down to help the colony with repairs after a particularly nasty storm hit, damaging houses and crops alike. Several teams had come down varying from medical to engineering, but Sulu had come down to help in the agricultural department. But since most of his job included double checking the botany sequences of the colony's assorted crops, a job that he completed within an hour, he was bored. Kirk, having finished discussions with the colony's governor, had come down to the generators to help Scotty and Keenser make repairs and asked Sulu to lend a hand, but really it was just an excuse to grill Sulu on his suddenly rocky relationship with Julia Dawson.

"What you need to do," Kirk said, voice muffled and strained under the console, "is beg."

"Beg, sir?"

"Beg, grovel, crawl on your hands and knees across rough cobble stones, whatever it takes. Just get her to talk to you and then apologize until you can't breathe."

"But I didn't do anything wrong!"

Kirk pulled himself out far enough so Sulu could see his face and then raised an eyebrow, "Really, you did absolutely nothing wrong? She's completely and totally to blame in every possible way?" Sulu grunted and looked away. Kirk smirked, "Yeah, that's what I thought. It takes two to tango, Sulu."

As he disappeared under the console again, Sulu sighed and leaned against it, "Fine, it's both of our faults. But why should I be the one to come crawling back? I _wanted_ to talk. She's the one that threw a tantrum about it."

"What were you fighting about anyway? I heard the shouting match was pretty epic."

Sulu rubbed his temple and not for the first time regretted having it out with Julia in the rec room. Just because it had been empty didn't mean that no one could hear. The rumors of their break up and the reasons behind it had circulated through the ship before they'd even stomped their separate ways.

"She wants to visit her parents for the holidays," Sulu told Kirk, "because apparently her grandfather is dying."

Kirk stopped his movements, "Gotta tell you, Sulu, I'm kind of siding with her on that one."

"He's been dying for five years," Sulu snapped, "and when I met him, he _sprinted_ to food court when he found out they served funnel cake."

Kirk laughed, "Sounds like my kind of guy. So why not go?"

"Her mother," Sulu sighed, "She hates me, and I am not exaggerating that in any way. She literally hates me. Julia introduced us over a vid comm three weeks ago and I have never seen a woman look so disgusted or angry. She actually asked Julia about getting back with her ex right in front of me."

"And?"

"And, if we go back to Nowhere, Nebraska, we're going to have a miserable holiday. My family loves Julia and my parents can't wait to meet her in person. Julia thinks that if we spend time with them, maybe her parents will come around, but I'm pretty certain it will just give her father an excuse to use that shot gun he threatened me with."

"Sulu, you're in a relationship with Jules, not her parents."

"So? I've got to put up with them, too!"

"Yes, but how often? Most of the time you're going to be in space. The holidays are just a few days a year. Don't tell me you can face down Klingons and Romulans, but you can't stomach a few days of playing nicey-nice with the in-laws. Isn't Jules worth that?"

Sulu huffed, "Of course she is."

"Compromise, Sulu. It's all about compromise."

"Yeah? Then why am I the one that has to bend?"

"Because," Kirk answered as he crawled out from under the console, "someone has to. It comes down to a very simple question, Sulu. Do you want to be with Jules or not?"

Sulu rolled his eyes, "Yes."

Kirk clapped him on the shoulder, "Then bend, my friend. Doesn't mean you have to break."

Sulu scoffed, "Great. Think you can have this conversation with Jules too?"

Kirk grinned at him, "Who says I haven't? Come on, let's go see what trouble Scotty and Keenser are getting into."

Sulu followed him through the maze of columns and modules. The generator room was a labyrinth that Sulu couldn't navigate with a holographic map and step-by-step instructions. The room itself was nearly the size of a football field and between the intersecting catwalks above them and the multitude of towers and transformers on the ground, Sulu knew if he didn't stick close to Kirk, he'd be lost for days.

As they neared the main exit of the room, Scotty's angry brogue echoed around them, and while it wasn't unusual to hear the Scotsman yelling at Keenser for one faux pas or another, there was no humor or gruff affection in his words. Kirk paused for a moment, likely coming to the same conclusion that Sulu had, and sped up his pace.

Scotty was indeed yelling but at Keenser or another crew member. No, Scotty was standing toe to toe with the colony's governor, shouting in an accent so thick that even Sulu couldn't understand him. The stout woman was holding her own, though, standing with her back ramrod straight and her arms crossed in defiance. Behind Scotty, Keenser watched the exchange with what Sulu could only assume was amusement. He couldn't really tell since the tiny alien was worse than Spock at showing emotion.

"Scotty, stop!" Kirk ordered, inserting himself physically between his Chief Engineer and Governor Atalya.

Scotty backed up a step, but his face was still as red as his shirt. He took a deep breath and then another, but his anger didn't seem to dissipate in the slightest.

Kirk watched him warily for a moment before looking between them, "Does someone want to explain what is going on?"

Atalya lifted her chin, "Captain, I was just trying to explain that-"

"She wants Keenser beamed out because he's an inferior species!" Scotty shouted.

Atalya narrowed her eyes, "That is not what I said."

"It's exactly what you said! Tellin' me to get him out cause he's _unclean_. I'll show you-"

"Scotty!" Kirk yelled, effectively silencing him, "Take a step back, Lieutenant Commander, and let me sort this out."

Scotty glanced at him, "Jim, she-"

"That's an order, Scotty."

Scotty's jaw clenched tightly, but he did as he was told, stepping back several feet until he was standing next to Keenser and Sulu. The smaller alien looked up at Scotty, blinked twice, and then copied his friend's stance, spreading his feet out to shoulder width, and crossing his arms tightly over his chest.

Satisfied that Scotty wasn't going to ring Atalya's neck, Kirk turned back to her and spoke quietly. Unable to hear them, Sulu glanced at Scotty.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

"Damn woman came in here, took one look at Keenser, and said he had to go," Scotty said gruffly, his eyes still trained on the governor like he could make her face melt if he just willed it hard enough, "Said he was an unclean species here and wasnae welcome."

"What does she mean unclean?"

Scotty shrugged, "Hell if I know. I told her to stick it where the sun nae shine, but she dinnae get the hint."

Sulu glanced at Keenser, wondering what the Roylan thought of all this. He didn't speak much if any Standard, but he wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what was happening around him.

"I'm sure the captain will set her straight," Sulu assured him.

"He better," Scotty gritted out.

Sulu hid a smile. For all his yelling and blaming Keenser for every tiny thing that went wrong, Scotty cared about the little guy more than he often wanted to show. Sulu didn't pretend to understand their friendship, but it worked for them, and he knew Scotty wouldn't hesitate to risk court martial to defend his friend.

Governor Atalya left moments later, her mouth in a tight line and her hands clenched at her sides. She gave Scotty a glare heated enough to kill and then stomped out of the room. Kirk wearily wiped a hand over his face and joined the others.

Scotty grinned, "Tell her to stuff it did ye, Cap'n?"

"No, Scotty, I didn't," Kirk said quietly, "I agreed to send Keenser back to the ship."

Scotty's eyes widened, "Ye _what_?"

Sulu gaped between them, glancing at Keenser and not missing the way his face fell and his shoulders slumped. The hurt was easy to read.

"Sir, you can't possibly agree with-"

Kirk held up his hand, silencing both Sulu and Scotty, "I don't agree with anything she said, Sulu. You guys know me better than that."

"Then why does he have to go back?" Scotty demanded, "He's part of me team. I need him down here and no high and mighty governor with a stick up her arse is going to tell me different!"

"It isn't that easy, Scotty," Kirk said, "This colony is made up of humans and Taulans, and for whatever reason, the Taulans think that Roylans are unclean and immoral."

"That's ridiculous!" Scotty yelled, "Ye can tell those xenophobic bastards to-"

"Scotty!" Kirk yelled, sharp and commanding, "Need I remind you, Commander, that we are here on a peaceful mission and you are still on duty."

Scotty sobered slightly, "Captain, you cannae bend to their preposterous ideals."

"I'm not," Kirk insisted, "but to keep peace, I need to send Keenser back. I made sure Atalya knew in no uncertain terms that Keenser is a valued member of my crew and that I won't stand for anyone to speak of him in that way, but he has to go back."

Scotty threw up his hands, "But you're just giving them what they want!"

"Damn it, Scotty. I'm done arguing about this.-"

Abruptly, the world shifted. One minute, Sulu was watching the verbal back and forth, and the next the room rocked. The floor jerked violently as an explosion ripped through the back half of terminals. Heat and acrid smoke encompassed them as the tremors sent all four men to their knees. Alarms wailed around them, the emergency lights flaring red as the main lights went out completely.

"Shit," Kirk hissed as he peeled himself off the floor, "What the hell was that?"

Scotty stumbled to the main console, "The second generator blew. It's damaged the main generator and taken out a third of the terminals."

"Crap on a cracker," Kirk muttered as he stood and held out a hand to Sulu, "Everyone okay?"

"Fine, sir," Sulu answered. Keenser stood, wiped dirt off his shirt, and gave two thumbs up.

"Captain, we've got a problem," Scotty said anxiously, "The terminals are overheating and the main generator is working at 57 percent capacity."

Kirk joined him at the console, "What's that mean, Scotty?"

"It means that the computer can't regulate the output of the terminals or the generator. If we can't get diminish the energy, the terminals are going to shut down and the generator is going to blow. The colony will lose all power."

"God damn it," Kirk leaned heavily against the console, "Just once, I'd love for a peaceful mission to actually stay that way. How do we fix it, Mr. Scott?"

"We need to relay most of the power from the main generator to the two smaller back ups. And we need to shut down the less necessary terminals to relieve the over load."

"Do it," Kirk said sharply and turned to Sulu, "Sulu, take Keenser back to the ship and get Travers and Lupica down here. I'll contact Spock and tell him what's happening."

"Sir-"

"You can't still be sending him back!" Scotty shouted, "Jim-"

"God damn it, Scotty, I don't have time to argue with you. Get to work on those generators. Sulu, I gave you an order."

"Yes, sir," Sulu said haltingly, "Come on, Keenser."

Keenser glanced at Scotty and at Kirk. The dejected look on his face unsettled Sulu, but the Roylan followed him without protest. It didn't set right with Sulu any more than it did with Scotty. He knew Kirk had to have a reason for agreeing with Atalya, but for the life of him, Sulu couldn't think of a legitimate one to cast the small engineer out.

They left Kirk and Scotty to work on the generators (or kill each other, Sulu wasn't certain) and headed into the corridor. The complex was mostly underground to protect the generators from storms, and while the lifts were most likely undamaged, Sulu didn't want to risk getting stuck in one, so he opted to take the stairs.

However, the blown out wall and giant mess of debris blocking the corridor from floor to ceiling kind of ruined his plan.

"Well, crap," he muttered, stepping back as rubble shifted and a pipe clattered to floor, "That sucks."

Beside him, Keenser said nothing.

"Alright, come on."

They headed back into the main room, and Sulu wasn't surprised to find Scotty hunched over the console, pouring over the screen and muttering to himself. A few feet away, Kirk was examining a terminal, his comm open in his hand.

"-no, Spock, if we leave now the colony will lose the generator. Scotty can fix it." Kirk stopped and narrowed his eyes at Sulu, "Sulu, what are you-"

"The corridor is blocked, sir," Sulu told him quickly, "There's no way out."

Kirk rolled his eyes, "Of course it is. Spock, there's been a change in plans."

_"Captain?"_

"Our main exit is blocked. Any chance you can get us a beam out from here?"

_"I will inquire with Mr. Chekov if that is possible."_

"Do that. If he can, I need him to beam out Sulu and Keenser, and then send down Travers and Lupica. We need more man power down here."

_"Sir, if that is the case, then wouldn't it be efficient to leave Mr. Sulu and Mr. Keenser where they are?"_

Scotty lifted his head and glared at Kirk, "Yes, sir. Would it nae be easier?"

Kirk ignored him, "No, Spock. I need them out of here. Just let me know what Chekov says."

_"Yes, Captain. Spock out."_

Kirk closed his comm, "Report, Scotty. How are we on the generator?"

"I have shut down some of the terminals, but I cannae relay the output from here. I'll have to manually override the controls."

"Manually override?" Kirk repeated, "As in get to the generator that's at the back of the complex where there's already been one explosion?"

Scotty nodded, "Aye, sir."

"Great, fantastic," he muttered, and opened his comm again, "Spock, where are we on that beam out?"

_"Ensign Chekov has informed me that it will take him approximately twelve minutes to recalculate the transporter due to interference from the storms and the minerals in the ground."_

"Twelve minutes, huh? Alright, Spock, new change in the game plan. Scotty, Sulu, Keenser, and I are going to attempt to fix the problem. As soon as Chekov can get a lock, comm me."

_"Yes, Captain."_

Kirk pocketed his comm, "Alright, Scotty. Lead the way."

Scotty started forward, an angry scowl set across his face, "You sure you don't want to leave Keenser here, sir? Being as you're so eager to get rid of him and all."

Kirk watched him disappear into the terminals, sighing wearily when Keenser followed him. Sulu was conflicted. While he agreed with Scotty that Keenser's treatment was unfair, he didn't agree with the engineer being so disrespectful to the captain. But Kirk didn't say anything about it.

"Come on, Sulu," Kirk said tiredly, "Let's get our hands dirty."

Sulu followed him at a jog as they hurried to catch up to the others, "Sir, I think you should know that mechanical work isn't one of my strong suits."

"Oh, I know, Sulu. Believe me. You can't tell a socket wrench from a screw driver."

"Just so long as you know, sir. I am mechanically inept."

"Duly noted, Mr. Sulu."

Kirk led them through the maze of terminals for several yards before they came to a junction. Scotty stood in the middle of it, studying his PADD carefully and flicking his eyes left and right. They were closer to the second generator, and smoke billowed around them like a heavy fog. Near the far wall, Sulu could see flames flickering from the smoldering wreckage and they only seemed to be growing.

"Sir, the fire-"

"I see it, Sulu. The sprinkler systems must have been damaged. Scotty, what's the hold up?"

"Um...nothing, sir. Just getting my bearings," Scotty muttered. Keenser looked up at him and blinked. Sulu didn't think the look meant much of anything, but Scotty scowled at the Roylan, "I am nae lost! I know exactly where I'm going."

"Figure it out quickly, Scotty," Kirk ordered, "We're running out of time."

"I know that, sir! Just-"

A second explosion, smaller than the first, erupted from the burning ruins of the generator. Scotty stumbled back, knocking heavily into Sulu. They both fell against a terminal, and Sulu hissed as the flesh of his arm made contact with overheated metal. He cursed and danced away, holding his arm to his stomach. Scotty was on the ground, shaking his head as if to clear it, when his eyes widened in fear.

"Keenser, look out!"

Sulu spun around and watched in horror as a massive pipe plummeted from the ceiling straight for Keenser. Three times his size and four times as heavy, it would crush the Roylan into nothing, but even as Sulu stumbled to his knees and Scotty reached out for him, he knew they would be too late to stop it.

And then Keenser was hurtling forward, sliding on his hands and knees from a violent push that had him rolling to a stop next to Sulu who instinctively covered him with his own body. The pipe hit the ground with a shattering thud that jarred Sulu's teeth and left him hacking as dust and smoke swelled around them. But it was the muted cry of pain that sent Sulu into a panic.

"Jesus, Keenser, you alright?" Scotty demanded as Sulu peeled himself off the alien.

Keenser nodded, but his wide onyx eyes were trained on the pipe and the pile of debris just feet away from them. Sulu staggered to his upright, ignoring the burning pain in his arm, and rushed to the rubble, knowing exactly what he'd find on the other side.

"Oy, Sulu. What are you doing, man?"

Sulu paid him no mind as he rounded the pile and dropped to his knees. There were pieces of catwalk and metal littered across the pipe, obscuring what was underneath from view, but there was no mistaking the golden sleeve peeking through, and the limp, pale hand tangled in the wreck.

"Captain!" he yelled as he began throwing the debris away, "Captain, can you hear me? _Jim!_"

Scotty appeared beside him, eyes wide, "Shit."

Together they cleared away most of the pile minus the giant pipe that neither man had a hope of lifting. Under the rubble, Kirk's face appeared, streaked in blood and slightly pale and twisted in pain. He coughed and hacked as the last of the wreckage was taken off him, and feebly pushed against the pipe pinning his legs to the ground with one hand. Unsurprisingly, it didn't budge.

"Sir, are you okay?" Sulu asked, breathlessly.

"There's...There's a giant ass pipe on me, Sulu," Kirk panted, "What do you think?"

"Right, stupid question. I meant, where are you hurt?"

Kirk collapsed back onto the floor, "Um, left arm's broken, head's killing me, and I'm pretty sure I busted some ribs. Not sure about my legs. Can't really feel them at the moment."

"We have to get you outta there, laddie," Scotty said, and Sulu could see the engineer's mind working, trying to come up with a solution to move the pipe and free their captain. His own solutions were nil. Even with all of them working together, they wouldn't be able to lift the ton of metal. They could beam him out easily enough, leaving the pipe behind, but that required waiting for Chekov to make his calculations. And even then, they still had the problem of the generator blowing up to deal with.

"No," Kirk said forcefully. Or, it would have been forceful if he hadn't dissolved into a massive coughing fit that left him breathless. Sulu gingerly raised him up so that his back was leaning against Sulu's shoulder, hoping to ease his breathing and the strain on his ribs.

When he'd caught his breath again, Kirk tried again, "No, Scotty. You need to get to the generator."

"Sir, we cannae just leave you here."

"That's exactly what you're going to do," Kirk said, "Look, it's not like my injuries are life threatening. I'm just stuck is all. And there's nothing you guys can do about it. Even Spock with his three-times-better-strength-than-puny-you-humans couldn't lift this thing."

Sulu shook his head, "Sir, all three of us don't need-"

"Yes, all three of you do. Scotty, you need to get that generator fixed and you're going to need Sulu and Keenser to do it. We can't let the colony lose power, and if that main generator blows, I don't think it's really gonna matter where I'm at."

Scotty muttered a string of curses under his breath, "You're right, Captain, but leaving you here-"

"I'm ordering all of you to go," Kirk said, and then smirked, "Come on, guys. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

Sulu glanced at Scotty over Kirk's head, watching a series of emotions play across his face- worry, anger, fear, but finally determination won out.

"Aye, sir," he said softly, "but I do nae like leaving you alone. Can you reach your comm?"

Without much difficulty, Kirk pulled his comm out of his right pocket and held it up. It was smudged and dented, but seemed to be unbroken.

"Open a comm line to mine," Scotty said, "We'll keep you appraised as we go, and you keep talking, sir."

Krik smiled faintly, a grisly sight amongst the blood that trickled down his face and stained his teeth, "You giving me orders now, Mr. Scott?"

"Whatever it takes, sir. Sulu, ease him down."

Reluctantly, Sulu did so, carefully manuevering Kirk so that he lay flat on the floor. If Sulu let his hand linger on the captain's shoulder a moment too long, no one blamed him for it.

"No more stalling," Kirk ordered, "Get going, the lot of you."

"Yes, sir," Sulu said as he stood. He moved with Scotty toward the terminals, but stopped when the engineer turned back.

Keenser knelt next to Kirk, his black eyes shining even in the smoke. He reached out his small hand as if to touch Kirk's shoulder, but stopped mid-gesture, reluctant and uncertain. Kirk raised his uninjured arm and grasped his wrist, interlocking his thumb around Keenser's smaller one. Keenser made a small noise in the back of his throat and tilted his head down, tentatively touching Kirk's shoulder with his other hand.

Keenser may not have been able to speak Standard, but his gratitude to Kirk for saving his life didn't need to be expressed in words.

"Keenser," Scotty said softly, jerking his head toward the terminals behind him, "Let's go."

Keenser followed them as they took off at a run through toward the generator. Every instinct and moral Sulu had told him to go back, to stay beside Kirk until they could get him free or help arrived. He understood the urgency to fix the generator, but leaving a man behind, however briefly, was not in Sulu's make up.

Scotty came to a sliding halt against the secondary console near the main generator. Sparks and small flames erupted from the giant machine, and even though Sulu was as mechanically inept as a boulder, even he could tell that it was straining under its power load, making screeching noises that sounded seconds away from turning into a full blown explosion.

"What do we do?" Sulu asked, breathless.

Scotty leaned over the screen on the console, shutting down alarms as they sprang up by the second, "I'm going to reroute some of the power to the back ups, try to lessen the load. Here," he shoved the comm into Sulu's palm, "Keep the captain on the line."

"Captain, can you hear me?"

_"Yeah, Sulu. Did you guys get to the generator?"_

"Yes, sir. Scotty's trying to fix her now-"

"Oy, Keenser! Get your wee arse over here!"

Over the line, Kirk laughed, _"Yeah, I can hear that. Even without the comm."_

"Sir, I don't know what use I'm going to be here. Maybe I should-"

_"No, Sulu. Stay there. Scotty's going to need all the help he can get, even if it's just another pair of hands. I'm fine. I promise."_

Scotty grunted as he knelt down under the console, "No offense, laddie, but your definition of _fine_ is a wee bit different than ours."

_"Oh, like you're one to talk. Who's the one that staid at his post after that bulkhead blew last month? With bruised ribs and plasma burns?"_

"Just taking after my captain, sir," Scotty huffed. Sulu peered under the console and watched him detach a handful of wires only to reattach them to a different panel. Still holding the wires, he called out, "Keenser, reroute the cells."

Keenser, in true Keenser fashion, hopped up on top of the console and began tapping at the screen. A massive spark sent Scotty scuffling out from under the console and cursing up a storm. There was a small burn on his cheek turning red and surrounded by smoke streaks, but that was nothing compared to his hair.

"Scotty, you're on fire!"

Unperturbed, Scotty patted his hair, snuffing out the flames like he was only combing down a cowlick.

_"What do you mean he's on fire? Hello! Hey, someone talk to me!"_

"It's fine, Cap'n," Scotty assured him and glared at Keenser, pointing an accusing finer at him, "You're a right idiot, you know that?"

Keenser shrugged.

Kirk gave a derisive snort over the line, _"Right, it's fine. Scotty's on fire, the generator's about to explode, and I'm trapped under a mountain of metal. Yeah, everything's just peaches and cream."_

As Kirk grumbled, Scotty moved to the generator and began pulling off parts and panels. Keenser climbed over his shoulder, reaching in where the bigger man couldn't reach.

"Sulu, get over here, man. I need you to move that coupling for me."

Sulu put the comm on the console, leaving the line open and active, and followed Scotty's instructions. Not that he had the slightest idea what he was helping to accomplish. To him, the generator was a lump of rusted metal parts and a patchwork of tangled and knotted wires. He was useless at fixing things, and yet he was shoulder deep in the machine's guts, pressing his face against warm metal and breathing in dust.

"Almost got it," Scotty muttered.

_"Hey, guys. You, um...you might want to hurry up."_

Scotty and Sulu froze, glancing at each other and then at the comm lying docile on the console.

"Sir?" Sulu asked.

"What's wrong, laddie?"

_"Well, it's not a big deal, but-"_ He broke off in a hacking fit that left Sulu sympathetically breathless, _"but there's a lot of smoke over here."_

"Smoke? Is the fire spreading closer?" Sulu asked, wincing as Scotty hurried to finish his task and accidentally pinched his fingers.

_"No, no fire. Just...a lot of smoke...like a lot."_

Another coughing fit followed, and Sulu suddenly understood the severity of the situation. If Kirk was telling them to hurry, was saying he was anything other than _fine_, then things had gone from bad to very, very worse.

"Sir, I'm coming back-"

_"No! I'm fine, Sulu...well, for now any way."_

"That doesn't exactly build our confidence, sir," Scotty yelled, now halfway in the machine itself. He handed Sulu a broken part without explanation, "Get rid of that, would you?"

Sulu dropped it on the ground behind him, "Yeah, sure."

_"Look, I'm on the ground already...so, you know, less smoke down here. And I can still breathe-"_ He coughed wretchedly and was still gasping when he spoke again, _"Ignore that...that was just terrible timing."_

"How much longer, Scotty?" Sulu demanded, "He's not going to last much longer if the smoke's bad. And knowing his luck, it's probably as thick as soup."

_"I can hear you, you know!"_

"Just a few more adjustments. Keenser, get down from there and send the power back through here. Keep forty percent on the back ups."

Keenser dropped like a lead weight and rushed to the console. His hands no longer needed as extra tools, Sulu snatched up the comm and stepped out of the way.

"Sir, the generator's just about fixed."

_"Good...that's good."_

Anxiety twisted in Sulu's gut at the weak, thin voice. He didn't know much about smoke inhalation, but he knew nine times out of ten it was the real cause of death, not the actual flames. With a pipe on him and busted ribs, Kirk was already breathing shallowly. Sulu didn't know if that was a good thing to ward off smoke inhalation, or if it just made it worse.

"We'll be back to you in minutes, sir," Sulu said, trying to sound reassuring, "Just hold on for a bit longer, and we'll have you out of here in no time. Chekov has probably got the calculations done already."

_"The calcu- Shit, Sulu, listen to me. I'm pretty...pretty sure...I'm gonna pass out...so you gotta make sure Keenser gets off this planet."_

Sulu gaped at the comm in his hand. At the console, Scotty raised his head sharply, anger clouding his eyes and turning his mouth down in a sharp frown.

"Sir, I don't think now is the time to worry about that. Even the governor has to let Keenser stay after-"

_"No, Sulu. He goes back. That's an order. He can't be...he can't be here. Get him back to the ship...get him safe."_

Sulu's brows knitted together, "Safe?"

_"The last...last Roylan to come here...they killed him, Sulu. Killed him...and then burned him up...Fucking crazy Taulans..."_

Sulu looked from Keenser to Scotty, watching as Scotty briefly closed his eyes and sagged against the console. Keenser nudged his leg sharply and pointed emphatically at the screen, silently ordering the engineer to get back to work.

_"Get him outta here, Sulu..."_ Kirk mumbled over the comm, coughing weakly, _"'S and order."_

"I got it, sir. I'll follow your order."

_"Good...'s a good last order."_

Sulu gripped the comm tightly, "Sir? Captain, answer me."

The comm crackled, but Kirk's wire thin voice didn't come over it again. Sulu was already stepping backward as Scotty met his eyes, wildly waving him away.

"Go! I've got this under control!"

Sulu didn't need to be told twice. Tossing the comm to Keenser, he turned on his heel, and darted back into the terminals, following instinct and memory to find his way back to Kirk. As he ran, the smoke thickened around him, until he was running hunched over and covering his mouth with the collar of his shirt. By the time he reached the junction, his eyes were watering and his lungs were burning.

Kirk was lying exactly where he'd been left, broken arm curled around his torso, his other one flung out beside him, the comm resting in his limp fingers. The smoke was thick enough to obscure his vision and heavy enough that Sulu could feel it coat his lungs with every breath. He stumbled to Kirk's side, coughing as he hit his knees and slumped against the pipe. He cursed inwardly; if he was affected by the smoke this much after only being in it for a few minutes, he couldn't imagine the damage it was doing to Kirk.

"Sir," Sulu wheezed, gently shaking the other man's shoulder, "Sir, wake up."

Kirk's head lolled across the ground. The only response he got was a wet gasp from the captain's slightly parted lips. Sulu couldn't be sure because of the thick smoke and his own blurry eyes, but he swore those lips were turning blue.

"Shit," he cursed softly, and plucked the comm from Kirk's slack hand, "Sulu to Enterprise. Come in."

_"Lieutenant Sulu, this is Commander Spock. Report."_

"Kirk's pinned under fallen debris. His injuries aren't that serious, but he's suffering from smoke inhalation," Sulu broke off to cough miserably, wondering if it was possible to expel his lungs through his throat, "We need immediate transport."

_"Understood. Has Mr. Scott fixed the problem?"_

"He's close," Sulu answered and pressed the palm of his hand under Kirk's nose. There was barely any air flow, "Damn it, Spock. The Captain doesn't have time to wait."

_"I understand the severity of the situation, Mr. Sulu. However, Mr. Chekov has informed me that the interference from the storms, minerals in the soil, and the extensive structure surrounding you are too much to overcome. His modifications to the transporter will only work once."_

Sulu hung his head, "What does that mean, Commander?"

_"It means that we must wait for Mr. Scott to secure the situation before we beam any of you up."_

"Kirk's barely breathing!" Sulu shouted, "He doesn't have time!"

_"If Mr. Scott does not fix the generator the colony will lose power. They will have no electricity, no water, and no power for the medical building where a third of the population is currently getting treatment. The captain would not wish to risk their lives for his own, nor would he wish for me to beam him out at the risk of stranding two of his crew members."_

It all made a logical, horrible sense that Sulu didn't want to accept. Without signing off or acknowledging Spock, he switched the frequency on his comm.

"Scotty, do you read me?"

_"Aye, Sulu. How's the lad?"_

Sulu spared a glance at the pale, smoke streaked face of his captain, "Not good, Scotty. Please tell me you're done."

_"Almost. The generator is running and the back ups are holding. I'm just turning back on the terminals that-"_

"Is it detrimental to the colony's power supply?"

_"Well...not exactly. They'll hold for at least ten hours if I leave them the way they are, but it's a quick fix-"_

"Kirk's barely breathing, Scotty, and Chekov can only beam once."

There was a short pause and then, "We'll be there in a moment, laddie."

Sulu blessed the Scotsman in a silent prayer of thanks and switched his comm line back, pausing long enough to wipe the soot from his eyes and clear his throat, "Spock, this is Sulu. Do you copy?"

_"Yes, Mr. Sulu. I feel I must reprimand you for not following proper protocol when it comes to-"_

"Yes, Mr. Spock, I know. You can yell at me later. Scotty's done. The generator is up and running, and he and Keenser are headed our way. Get us the hell out of here."

_"Mr. Scott is certain that the generator will hold?"_

_For ten hours at least_, Sulu thought sourly, "Yes, Spock."

_"I will inform Mr. Chekov to prepare for immediate transport."_

"You might want to have McCoy waiting," Sulu said.

_"Noted."_

Sulu dropped the comm and pressed his fingers to Kirk's throat, grateful to feel the slow, dull throb of his pulse point. He sagged toward the ground with relief...or perhaps vertigo. Sulu wasn't sure as his vision was doing remarkable things like fading on the edges and tunneling when it wasn't supposed to.

"It'll be okay, sir," Sulu gasped out between hoarse coughs, "We're almost there. Just hang on a few seconds more."

Kirk, of course, didn't answer.

A loud curse in a Scottish brogue echoed through the wall of smoke, followed by a loud clatter and dull thud. Scotty's red, dirty face appeared seconds later. He was crawling on his hands and knees, tugging Keenser behind him as they both choked on the smoke surrounding them like a suffocating blanket.

Scotty collapsed next to Kirk, took in his lax face and broken body, and nearly crumbled as he tentatively reached out to skim his fingers over Kirk's shoulder, "Oh, laddie."

Sulu raised the comm, "Spock, four to beam up."

The effect of clean air was immediate. Sulu inhaled sharply, coughing sporadically as his smoke drenched lungs refused to cooperate. He fell to his side, curling on his side as he hacked and gasped like a fish on a dry dock. From his horizontal position, he saw Scotty on his knees, coughing into his fist as he pounded on Keenser's back as the smaller engineer crouched and fought caught his breath.

The only one who didn't breathe deeply on the blessedly smoke-free air was Kirk. In fact, he didn't do much of anything.

Free of the pipe, Sulu could see the damage was more extensive than they first thought. In addition to the broken arm, Kirk's left leg was broken, his knee twisted and out of place and his foot facing the complete wrong direction. He was utterly still on the platform, absolutely motionless as McCoy climbed onto the pad and dropped beside him.

It seemed to be happening in slow motion, like a holo vid set to move frame by frame. Sulu watched as McCoy yelled over his shoulder, but the noise was muffled, muted from actual words to a buzzing drone. Sulu felt like he was under water, submerged, distant and detached, and drifting down, down, down...

The last image he saw was of McCoy positioning his hands over Kirk's heart, and then he faded into nothing.

* * *

Something wet and round bounced off his cheek. Sulu grunted and swiped at it, but refused to open his eyes, wishing to fall back into sleep's oblivion. For a moment, he thought he'd get his wish.

And then a second mushy projectile hit his forehead, rolled down the bridge of his nose, and landed in his lap.

Breathing deeply through a raw throat, Sulu blinked and opened his eyes to the bright lights of sickbay. Groaning, his various aches and pains came alive, making themselves known one by one: the burn on his arm, the dull pressure in his chest, the scraping of his torn up throat. He felt weak and groggy, but as he took a deep, clean breath without hacking up a lung, he decided he didn't feel half bad.

As he was attempting to sit up, another round object hit his ear and Sulu jerked up right. Half a dozen peas rolled down his chest to the blanket covering his waist, joining the other half of the dozen. He picked one up, wrinkling his nose in disgust as its mushy green insides ruptured through the frail skin and stained his blanket.

"Finally!"

Sulu turned to the right. Kirk sat upright in his own bed, a tray beside him and a spoon in his hand. The plate on the tray was empty save for a giant pile of peas. It did not escape Sulu's notice that Kirk had two more peas loaded on the end of the spoon, seconds away from launching them at Sulu's face.

"I thought you'd never wake up," Kirk told him, and, Jesus, did his voice sound horrible. It was as if he'd been choked by three Romulans, suffered a severe case of strep throat, and taken a sander to his vocal chords...Well, maybe it wasn't _quite_ that bad, but it was close.

"So you assaulted me with peas?" Sulu asked, satisfied that his voice, while hoarse, was not nearly as bad as Kirk's.

Kirk shrugged his right shoulder, "I was bored."

"Right, and logically, attacking me with your dinner makes total sense."

Kirk grinned, "I hate peas, and I had to get rid of them somehow. Otherwise Bones will come back in here and feed them to me through a straw."

"I think your plan failed," Sulu said and tossed a handful of peas back at his captain.

"No fair. Injured man here."

Sulu snorted, "You're awake, flinging peas at me, and complaining about being bored. You can't be that bad off."

Kirk raised his left arm, "Broken humorous in two places, fractured collar bone, two busted ribs, three more bruised," he pointed to his leg, "dislocated knee, and broken fibula. Oh, and a mild concussion."

"Don't forget the severe smoke inhalation."

Sulu watched with mild bemusement as McCoy approached his bed while glaring angrily at the mess of peas on Kirk's plate. Kirk quickly slid the spoon under his blanket, hoping McCoy didn't notice. It didn't do him any good as McCoy looked at the peas littering the floor around Sulu's bed.

"What the hell is this?" he demanded, raising his foot as a pea squelched underneath his boot.

Kirk gasped dramatically, "Bones! You murdered the pea!"

"Yeah, well it wouldn't be staining my floor if you had just eaten them like I asked you to, you damn infant," McCoy huffed.

"I told you to get me corn," Kirk told him, "I hate peas, and you know it."

McCoy ignored him, "How are you feeling, Sulu?"

"Fine," he said and then quickly added, "and I don't mean the captain's definition. I mean, I really feel okay."

"No dizziness or trouble breathing?"

"Nope. What happened to me anyway?"

"You passed out from smoke inhalation, Sulu. Which is only mildly better than what that one did," McCoy hooked a thumb over his shoulder at Kirk, who grinned and waved.

Sulu narrowed his eyes, "What'd he do?"

"Stopped breathing."

Sulu turned his narrowed eyes to the captain, "Of course, he did."

"Didn't last long, but it was enough. You got him out of there just in time, Sulu. A minute more and there could have been worse damage-Gah! Jim, what the hell?"

McCoy turned on Kirk as five peas bounced off his neck and landed on the floor. Kirk grinned wider and waved his spoon at them mockingly.

"The peas are retaliating for their fallen brethren," he announced, "and for making me eat them."

"You aren't eating them!"

Kirk pointed the spoon at him, "Exactly."

Sulu tried not to laugh and asked, "What the hell did you give him, McCoy?"

"Nothing I'm giving him ever again," McCoy grumbled, "I don't care if he's allergic to everything else in the quadrant. He can just suffer."

"How bad was it?" Sulu asked quietly.

"Bad enough," McCoy answered, "but like I said, you got him back in time."

Another handful of peas catapulted into Sulu's hair. McCoy cursed as Sulu wiped them away and glared at Kirk.

"I'm right here," Kirk told them with the kind of petulance usually only a small child could muster, "I don't like it when you guys do that."

"Do what?" McCoy sighed.

"Talk all secretive about me like you've got some kind of club. I am an adult, you know."

Sulu flicked a pea at him, "Really, I never would have guessed."

Kirk grinned cheekily at him and raised his spoon, but before he could fire any more way ward peas, McCoy closed the distance between them and snatched the spoon out of his hand. Kirk grumbled and made a swipe for the remaining peas on his plate, but McCoy anticipated it and moved the tray out of reach, smirking triumphantly as he did so.

"Great, now I'm bored again," Kirk whined.

"Good, maybe you'll get some rest like you're supposed to," McCoy griped and turned his angry gaze on Sulu, "You, too."

"Gladly," Sulu said, settling back into his pillows and wiping the remaining peas onto the ground.

Kirk didn't go down quite as easily as Sulu, and McCoy resorted to giving him another sedative to get him to sleep. As the doctor dimmed the lights and left the room, Sulu closed his eyes and tried to relax.

"Hey, Sulu."

Trying not to sigh loudly in annoyance, Sulu said, "Yes, Captain?"

"You disobeyed my order to stay with Scotty."

Sulu's eyes snapped open. _Shit_.

"Yes, sir."

"You questioned Spock and ignored protocol."

"Yes, sir."

"_And_ you pulled Scotty away when the repairs were not 100 percent complete."

Sulu sighed heavily, "Yes, sir."

_Shit_, he was in so much trouble. He was going to get bumped down to Ensign for the shit he pulled down there. It was going to be a big black mark on his record, and _shit, goddamn it_-

"Thank you."

The words were spoken softly, slightly slurred, but meant wholeheartedly. Sulu closed his eyes, and allowed himself a small smile.

"You're welcome, sir."

"But don't think you're out of trouble," Kirk whispered hoarsely, "There's gonna be a dressing down and a reprimand and everything. Just as soon as Bones stops drugging me."

Sulu smiled so wide it hurt, "Yes, sir."

* * *

Sulu woke to soft murmuring. The lights were still dim, the rest of sickbay still quiet and unmoving. Sulu turned toward Kirk's bed, blinking sleep from his eyes, and watched as Scotty walked quietly and quickly to Kirk's side, glaring mildly at Keenser who sat perched on the edge of the bio bed, swinging his legs back and forth.

"Get off of there, you damnable brat," Scotty hissed in a hushed whisper.

"He's fine, Scotty," Kirk muttered sleepily, "We were just chatting."

Scotty scoffed, "Right, chatting with a near mute. How're you managing that, sir?"

"We have an understanding. Don't we Keenser?"

Keenser smiled, and damn if it didn't look as creepy as hell on his rough face.

Scotty's face softened and his shoulders drooped, "An understanding. Aye, sir. I'd say you have one at that, laddie."

"Scotty," Kirk drew out the name, "what's wrong?"

"The things I said to you on that damnable planet, sir, the way I acted...I'm sorry. I had no right to-"

Kirk waved his hand dismissively, "Forget it, Scotty. I have."

"No, sir," Scotty said firmly, "I cannae. I doubted you, sir. I damn near called you a coward, and all you were doing was trying to keep Keenser safe. Hell, sir, you damn near died pushing him out of the way of that pipe, and all the while I was cursing your name...I'm sorry, laddie."

"It's okay, Scotty."

"Nae. You've never given me a reason to doubt you, and I-"

"Scotty, it's okay to have doubts. I wouldn't trust you half as much as I do if you just followed me blindly. Doubts keep me grounded, keep me human. And besides, even with your doubts, you still followed your orders. You didn't like it, but you did it and you saved a colony for it. You did good, Scotty."

Scotty shook his head, "Maybe, sir, but it will nae happen again."

"Scotty-"

"I mean it, sir. I'll nae doubt you again. Not when it comes to the crew," he gripped Kirk's right arm lightly, "I know where your loyalty lies, laddie."

Kirk smiled briefly, gripping Scotty's arm in return, "And I know where yours lie, Mr. Scott."

Keenser, not wanting to be left out, leaned forward and placed his hand on top of theirs. Kirk laughed, and Scotty rolled his eyes, muttering something like _sentimental fool_ under his breath.

Sulu, content and drugged up to his eyeballs, smiled as he drifted back to sleep.

* * *

**A/N: So there's the latest chapter. I struggled with Keenser and Scotty since I don't usually write them. I hope I did okay. Really, the whole thing was just so I could write Jim flinging peas.**

**And for those of you that like Sulu and Julia's relationship, they make up. They just don't do it here.**

**Review if you feel so inclined! Thanks for sticking with me! Heads up, the next one is about Uhura and Spock.**

**Kudos**


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